Marcel Camus

Marcel Camus 21 April 1912 13 January 1982 was a French film director He is best known for Orfeu Negro Black Orpheus which won the Palme dOr at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival and the 1960 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film Camus was born in Chappes in the Ardennes département of France He studied art and intended to become an art teacher However World War II interrupted his plans He spent part of the war in a German prisonerofwar camp On his return from captivity his uncle famous novelist Roland Dorgelès introduced him to several filmmakers Camus assisted filmmakers in France including Jacques Feyder Luis Buñuel and Jacques Becker In a famous photo of the French New Wave filmmakers taken on the steps of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes in 1959 Marcel Camus appears alongside François Truffaut François Reichenbach Claude Chabrol Jacques DoniolValcroze JeanLuc Godard Roger Vadim JeanDaniel Pollet Jacques Rozier Jacques Baratier Jean Valère Édouard Molinaro and Robert Hossein In 1958 at the suggestion of producer Sacha Gordine he travelled to Brazil to adapt for the screen with the help of Jacques Viot a play by famous poet and diplomat Vinícius de Moraes Orfeu da Conceição which became Orfeu Negro It was a transposition of the love story of Orpheus and Eurydice to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro during Carnival The film won over both the general public and a large proportion of the critics The film was a worldwide success winning several awards including the Palme dOr at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in 1960 It introduced Europeans and Americans to Rio Carnival and bossa nova with unknown black actors and a tender view of Brazil AmericanFrench actress Marpessa Dawn who played Eurydice in the film became the directors wife In 1960 Camus made a second Brazilianthemed film Os Bandeirantes This adventure film follows a French diamond miner in Brazil who after being betrayed and left for dead by a friend embarks on a quest for vengeance but finds himself falling in love with a Brazilian woman along the way Twenty years after Orfeu Negro Camus returned to Brazilian themes for what would prove to be his last film Bahia also known as Otalia da Bahia and Os pastores da noite based on a novel by Brazilian novelist Jorge Amado These films however failed to recapture the success of Orfeu Negro In 1976 he returned to the country that fascinated him and his wife Brazil to direct Otalia de Bahia adapted from Jorge Amados novel Os pastores da noite Shepherds of the Night In 1970 Camus had a last great success with a World War II comedy Atlantic Wall starring the wellknown French comedian Bourvil It was the second most popular film in France in 1970 attracting 4 770 962 viewers Camus ended his career working primarily in television Camus married one of the stars of Orfeu Negro Marpessa Dawn but they divorced shortly thereafter He then married another actress from Orfeu Negro Lourdes de Oliveira Camus and de Oliveira have two children including the writer JeanChristophe Camus Camus died in Paris and is buried there in Père Lachaise Cemetery Source Article Marcel Camus from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA