Charles de Rochefort

Charles de Rochefort, originally uploaded by Truus, Bob & Jan too!.

Charles d’Authier de Rochefort (1887-1952) was born in Port-Vendres, France. In 1910 he started to play in film, most of all in the Pathé comedies of Max Linder (8 films between 1910 and 1914), but also in Pathé dramas by Georges Denola, Albert Capellani and Abel Gance. In 1918 he performed in the serial Impéria (12 episodes) by Jacques Durand, with Jacqueline Forzane. After the films Marthe (Gaston Roudès 1919), Fille du peuple (Camille de Morlhon 1920), L’empire du diamant (Léonce Perret 1920) and Roi de Camargue (André Hugon 1921) – for which film this postcard might have been – De Rochefort again appeared in two serial films: Gigolette (Henri Pouctal 1921, 4 episodes) and L’empereur des pauvres (René Leprince 1921, 6 episodes). In 1922 Rochefort played in several films: in Antoine’s L’Arlésienne, two films by Hugon: Notre dame d’amour and Le diamant noir, L’homme qui pleure by Louis d’Hée, and the co-production The Spanish Jade/Sous le soleil d’Espagne by John S. Robertson and starring Evelyn Brent. After two more French films in 1923: La dame au ruban de velours (Giuseppe Guarino) with Arlette Marchal, and La faute des autres (Jacques Olivier) with Mary Thay, Charles de Rochefort went to Hollywood.

There, in 1923, he played in The Marriage Maker by William C. DeMille, with Mary Astor; he briefly appeared in Holywood/Joligud by James Cruze; he also played in The Cheat by George Fitzmaurice, with Pola Negri; The Law of the Lawless by Victor Fleming, with Dorothy Dalton; and The Ten Commandments by Cecil B. DeMille, with Rod La Rocque. In the subsequent year 1924 followed 4 more American films: Love and Glory by Rupert Julian; Shadows of Paris by Herbrt Brenon; The White Moth by Maurice Tourneur; and Madame Sans-Gêne by Léonce Perret, a super-production around Gloria Swanson. In 1925 Roochefort left Hollywood and returned to France, where he played in one film: La princesse aux clowns (Hugon) with Huguette Duflos. Rochefort then stayed away from film for four years. When he returned in 1929 it was not as actor but as director at the Parisian Paramount sound studios, first with Une femme a menti (1929) with Louise Lagrange and scripted by Henri Koster [Hermann Kosterlitz], then in 1930 with the French, Italian, Czech and Rumanian version of Paramount on Parade, starring resp. Maurice Chevalier, Carmen Boni, Jiri Voskovec and Pola Illéry. Rochefort also directed the mulitilingual Le secret du docteur (1930), with Marcelle Chantal in the French and Eugenia Zoffoli in the Spanish version. In 1931 Rochefort acted once more in the film La croix du sud (Hugon), for which he also did the photography, and he directed Televisione, the Italian version of the Paramount multilingual Television. He also directed the short Dorville chauffeur (1930) and Un bouquet de flirts (1931) with Josette Day. Charles de Rochefort died in Paris in 1952.