orig. Jean-Alexis Moncorgé
born May 17, 1904, Paris, France
died Nov. 15, 1976, Paris
French film actor.
The son of a music-hall comedian, he began as a performer at the Folies-Bergère (1923). After making his film debut in 1931 he earned critical and popular acclaim in Maria Chapdelaine (1934), Pépé le moko (1937), Grand Illusion (1937), The Human Beast (1938), and Daybreak (1939), often portraying the silent, tough antihero surviving in a world of social outcasts. He appeared in several films as Georges Simenon's detective character, Inspector Maigret, and also in Speaking of Murder (1959), Money, Money, Money (1962), and The Upper Hand (1967).