Aznavour, Charles

(1924- )

   Actor, composer, and singer. Charles Aznavour was born in Paris to Armenian parents. During his youth he acted in the Théâtre du Petit Monde. His first appearance onscreen was in a very small role in Eugene Deslaw's La Guerre des gosses (1938). In 1958 he acted in Georges Franju's La Tête contre les murs, which starred Jean-Pierre Mocky. He would later act in Mocky's Les Dragueurs (1959) and Les Vièrges (1964). One of his first major roles was as the pianist in François Truffaut's famous Tirez sur le pianiste (1960).

   In addition to being a celebrity actor, Aznavour is a renowned music hall singer and composer, writing songs for films and for his mentor, the late Edith Piaf. In the 1960s, he became an international film star, appearing alongside Marlon Brando, Ringo Starr, and Richard Burton in his first English-language film, Christian Marquand's Candy (1968). He also appeared in Michael Winner's The Games (1970), Lewis Gilbert's The Adventurers (1970), Clive Rees's The Blockhouse (1973), Peter Collinson's And Then There Were None (1974), and Douglas Hickox's Sky Riders (1976). He acted in German films as well, such as Volker Schlondorff's Die Blechtrommel (1979) and Hans Geissendorfer's Der Zauberberg (1982). In 1982, he costarred with the beloved actor Michel Serrault in Claude Chabrol's Les Fantômes du chapelier. In 1986, he worked as the scenarist and lead actor for Paul Boujenah's Yiddish Connection.

   Aznavour has also had leading roles in several French films, among them Denys de La Patellière's Un Taxi pour Tobrouk (1961), Michel Boisrond's Cherchez l'idole (1963), Pierre Granier-Deferre's Paris au mois d'août (1965), Jean Larriaga's La part des lions (1971), Phillipe Leriche's Les Années campagne (1991), Bernard Favre's Pondichery, dernier comptoir des Indes (1996), and Christian de Chalonge's Le Comédien (1996). He received an honorary César in 1997. In 2001, he sang alongside Anna Karina in Jonathan Demme's The Truth About Charlie. In 2002, he starred in Atom Egoyan's Ararat, a film about coping with the genocide against Armenians in Turkey. He also appeared in Denis Berry's Laguna (2002) and Edmond Bensimon's Emmenez-moi (2004).