New book examines actor Jean Gabin
By Josh Wasbin
July 20, 2008 9:18 p.m.
It’s a pretty big statement to say that one man is the world’s coolest movie star, especially when it’s one that’s inspired the creation of a cartoon skunk.
However, having watched every one of actor Jean Gabin’s movies, UCLA alumnus Charles Zigman thinks the French actor fits the role, and he intends to prove it.
Zigman, a film student from the class of ’88, has just published a biography on Gabin, who lived from 1904 to 1976 and was the inspiration for the cartoon character Pepé le Pew based on his character Pepe le Moko.
“Jean Gabin is one of the top movie stars across the world, everywhere but the USA. There’s a cult following here, but it’s not the same popularity he has in Europe,” Zigman said on the subject of his two-volume book titled “World’s Coolest Movie Star: The Complete 95 Films (and Legend) of Jean Gabin.” This is the first book in English about Gabin, according to Zigman.
The book, which is 95 chapters long (one for each of Gabin’s films), is broken up into two parts. The first volume details Gabin in the ’30s and ’40s, at which time he would frequently portray a drifter, and the second volume is from the ’50s through the ’70s, when he would often play a gentleman gangster.
In order to collect information on Gabin for his book, Zigman had to travel to places such as London and Paris to see copies of the movies. This is because some of Gabin’s movies have only one copy and that one copy’s age and physical sensitivity prevented it from being sent to Zigman.
After all that, he was still missing a few of Gabin’s movies. The UCLA Film & Television Archive had just received the remaining movies, allowing Zigman to save his frequent flyer miles and conveniently watch those in Los Angeles.
“I watched all 95, including some that even his family had never seen,” Zigman said.
The archive is a service that is open to anyone who wishes to do research on film and television recordings.
“I never set out to write a film book. The more of his films I saw, the more I wanted to see. It was just fun to try to find all of them,” he said.
Gabin was Zigman’s favorite actor. He said that at family gatherings, the older members of his family would constantly talk about Gabin and his movies.
“His movies are so good, you forget you’re watching an old movie with subtitles,” Zigman said.
Gabin’s movies are broken into genres quite clearly, from mystery films to mob movies.
The renowned thespian was known for his characters such as the mob boss and the drifter, but he also had numerous famed roles that defied such classifications, such as Jean Valjean in a 1958 film production of “Les Miserables.”
Zigman claims his book will enable both those who have never seen a Gabin movie and Gabin buffs alike to find out more about him. A number of Gabin’s movies have never been subtitled and have therefore been inaccessible to a hefty part of the American market.
“He’s considered to be the every man, even though he doesn’t look like a movie star. A man’s man. Every actor has their good movies and their clunkers, every single one of his movies was great. He always played a working man in his movies and he felt that he owed his audience,” Zigman said.
