Jules Berry

Trained at the Paris Conservatoire, Berry spent twelve years dominating the Théâtre Royal des Galeries in Brussels before returning to Paris. With rapid-fire verbal virtuosity and supreme ironic cynicism, he became the ultimate screen manipulator in French pre-war cinema.

In Jean Renoir's Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (1936), his portrayal of the crooked publisher Batala was hailed as a masterpiece of villainous charm. In Marcel Carné's wartime allegory Les Visiteurs du soir (1942), his charismatic, terrifying performance as the Devil attempting to break human love stands as an absolute summit of French acting.