Batala in “Le Crime de Monsieur Lange”, then the Devil in “Les Visiteurs du soir” in 1942: some thirty films carried by a delivery that came from the stage. His hands, stiffened by arthritis, fingers splayed, became a way of acting. The name engraved for him carries a mistake: “Peaufichet”.
The story
Jules Paufichet was born at Poitiers on 9 February 1883. He made his career in the theatre before the cinema, and came to the screen with a delivery and a way of moving already shaped by the stage — a rapid patter, an offhandedness that runs through every part he played.
His hands, stiffened by arthritis, fed the character: he held them away from his body, fingers spread, and that physical constraint became a manner of acting the audience recognised from one shot to the next.
In 1936 he was Batala in Jean Renoir's “Le Crime de Monsieur Lange”: a hearty swindler, the most charming blackguard in French cinema of the thirties.
In 1939 he played Valentin opposite Jean Gabin and Arletty in Marcel Carné's “Le Jour se lève”. Three years later the same Carné gave him the Devil of “Les Visiteurs du soir”, the part that fixed him in the common memory. He made eighty-nine films in all.
He died in Paris on 23 April 1951 and lies in Division 80 in the grave of the Laville and Paufichet families. The stone names him ‘Jules Peaufichet, dit Berry’ — with an e too many.
The grave
It is a family grave, in the names of Laville and Paufichet, without ornament: no medallion, no quotation, no film title. The inscription fits on one line and carries a slip: “Jules PEAUFICHET, known as BERRY, 1883 + 1951”. The actor was born Paufichet; the e is one too many. On that score he joins a small series of graves in the cemetery where the engraved civil status does not match the registers, like that of Jane Avril in Division 19.
On site, do not miss
The engraved name, with its mistake: “Jules PEAUFICHET, known as BERRY” — an e the actor never bore.
Visitors' questions
Where is Jules Berry's grave?
In Division 80, Chemin Casariéra, first row, in the upper, eastern part of the cemetery. It is a family grave, under the names Laville and Paufichet, with no ornament and no mention of his career.
Christian BérardWhat are his best-known films?
Renoir's “Le Crime de Monsieur Lange” in 1936, in which he plays the swindler Batala, Carné's “Le Jour se lève” in 1939 opposite Gabin and Arletty, and “Les Visiteurs du soir” in 1942, in which he plays the Devil.
Jehanne d'AlcyIs there a mistake on his grave?
Yes, in his birth name: the stone reads “Jules Peaufichet, dit Berry”, with an extra “e”. He was born Paufichet, in Poitiers, on 9 February 1883, and never used that spelling in his lifetime.
Jane AvrilWhy is his acting so recognisable?
Because of his hands, stiffened by arthritis, which he held away from his body with the fingers spread. That physical constraint, combined with a rapid delivery brought from the stage, made a style of acting the public recognised at once.
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