Guitry, Sacha (1885-1957)

Guitry, Sacha

ACTOR, DIRECTOR, SCREENWRITER (FRANCE)

BORN 21 Feb 1885, St. Petersburg: Nevsky Prospekt 12 - DIED 24 Jul 1957, Paris
BIRTH NAME Guitry, Alexandre-Pierre Georges
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Cimetière de Montmartre, 20 Avenue Rachel (division 01, ligne 01)

Sacha Guitry was the third son of the actors Lucien Guitry and Renée Delmas de Pont-Jest. His parents separated because of his father's affairs with other women. Sacha entered the Lycée Janson de Sailly in Paris but he gave up school when he was sixteen. He worked as a playwright before he was engaged by his father at the Théâtre de la Renaissance in 1904 but after a quarrel they refused to speak to each other.

In 1905 he started living with the actress Charlotte Lysès, who had been his father's mistress. They married in 1907. After 1911 several of his plays were successful and in 1915 he made his first movie, "Ceux de chez nous". Also in 1915 he met the singer Yvonne Printemps and they started an affair. Charlotte left him and divorced him and he married Yvonne in 1919.

In 1918 he reconciled with his father and they appeared in many productions together. With Yvonne he appeared in "L'amour masqué" and this was such a success that they took the production to London and to the USA. In 1930 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur. In 1932 his marriage failed and he and Yvonne were divorced in 1934.

During the Second World War he continued to work on the stage and for the cinema. In 1944 he was arrested and interned at Drancy. Although his name was cleared it affected him severely. In 1947 he married Lana Marconi who was 28 at the time. He returned to the stage in 1948. In 1953 he appeared on the stage for the last time in "Palsambleu". He continued to make movies until his death in 1957.

Family
• Father: Guitry, Lucien
• Wife: Marconi, Lana (1949-1957)

Images

The grave of Lucien and Sacha Guitry at the Cimetière Montmartre, Paris.
Picture by Androom (20 Feb 2016)