Clément Duhour

Clément Duhour was born in Saint-Jean d’Anglet, in the Aquitaine region of south-western France on 11 December 1912.^[1] He died on 3 January 1983 in Neuilly-sur-Seine. He was a French athlete, singer, actor, film director and producer.

Biography

A French Basque, Clément Duhour was the son of a baker. He was also the younger brother of Édouard Duhour.^[2] At age 16, he won his first French national championships in both the shot put and discus. Almost simultaneously, he was expelled from the public high school in Bayonne for "indiscipline". Subsequently, his father sent him to Paris to become an apprentice salesman at the Félix Potin grocery store. Three days later, he quit the apprenticeship to become an entertainer at the Lapin Agile club under the stage name Guy Lormont.^[1] In 1932, he took part in the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles shot put competition, where he tossed well beyond the 45-foot mark without much training.^[1] His brother, Édouard, was also a French shot putter, who competed in the event at the Olympics the previous year.^[2] The following year, Clément was again crowned French national shot put champion.

During the German occupation of France, Duhour opens his own cabaret, Le Cavalier, on the Rue de Ponthieu, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.^[1] He also starts his movie career as "Boris Ivanovitch" in L'Âge d'or directed by Jean de Limur. According to Hans von Luck, Duhour's cafe-inn was a cover for Resistance activities, thus hiding resisters behind a cloak of superficial compliance with the Germans.^[1] In 1942, Duhour met Viviane Romance and they married in 1943. Together they created the production company Izarra Films, "izarra" meaning "star" in Basque.^[1]

After the end of the Second World War, Clément Duhour becomes Sacha Guitry's regular producer and collaborator through his production company "CLM" (Courts et Longs Métrages), whose name is meant as a quasi-acronym of his first name, Clément ("Clem").^[1] This association would prove fruitful in the 1950s with the production of a series of cinematographic masterpieces, like the cult classics Three Make a Pair, Lovers And Thieves or If Paris Were Told To Us.^[1]

Clément Duhour also paid tribute to Sacha Guitry's memory after his death in 1957 by directing and producing Life Together (La Vie à deux) in 1958.

He died "of natural causes" on January 3, 1983, in Neuilly. He was 71 years old.^[1]

Filmography

As actor

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1941	The Golden Age	Jean de Limur
1942	The Trump Card	Jacques Becker
1945	La Route du bagne	Léon Mathot
1946	La Colère des dieux	Karel Lamač
1946	La Maison sous la mer	Henri Calef
1948	Crossroads of Passion	Ettore Giannini
1951	Passion	Georges Lampin
1951	Paris Still Sings	Pierre Montazel	actor and producer
1952	Promenades à Paris	Stany Cordier
1953	Saluti e baci - (La Route du bonheur)	Maurice Labro and Giorgio Simonelli	actor and producer
1953	L'Embarquement pour le ciel	Jean Aurel
1953	Le Chemin de l'étoile	Jean Mousselle
1953	La Montagne du bout du monde	Lionel Terray
1953	Histoires de bicyclettes	Émile Roussel
1954	Si Versailles m'était conté...	Sacha Guitry	actor and producer
1955	Napoléon	Sacha Guitry	actor and producer
1955	Si Paris nous était conté	Sacha Guitry	actor and producer

As director

Year	Title		Notes
1958	Life Together		director, writer, and producer
1959	Vous n'avez rien à déclarer ?		director and producer

Only as producer

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1956	Le Pays d'où je viens	Marcel Carné

References

1. Legeard, Emmanuel (11 December 1999). "L'Enigmatique Monsieur Duhour, Un Paradoxe français". Sorbotron.
2. Édouard Duhour. sports-reference.com