André Alerme

Mustachioed, serious-countenanced, bald with a remaining crown of hair, with an imposing round figure, André Alerme became for two decades the quintessential dignitary of French cinema. Indeed, between 1930 and 1950, the popular character actor divided his performances between the Army, the Church and the Nobility. In the seventy-odd films he was in, he was in turns, captain (once in the army, the other time in the navy), the commander of a dragoon company, a colonel ; a baron (twice), a viscount, a count, a marquis, the King's tax collector and even, in the forgettable Aloha, le chant des îles (1937) , a Scottish lord (not his best role!) ; a priest, and even Saint Peter! He could also easily portray officials or people with an influential role in society : a doctor (twice), a politician, managers of various kinds, industrialists (he was already one in his first and only silent Amour et carburateur (1925), mayors, a financier, a couturier... His roundness could have suggested gentlene