Name Clement Duhour | Role Actor | |
Died January 3, 1983, Hauts-de-Seine, France Spouse Viviane Romance (m. 1944–1952) Movies La Vie a deux, Napoleon, If Paris Were Told to Us, The Road to Happiness, Lovers and Thieves Similar People Viviane Romance, Philippe Nicaud, Sacha Guitry, Pierre Brasseur, Maurice Labro | ||
Clement Duhour was born in Saint-Jean d’Anglet, in the Aquitaine region of south-western France on 11 December 1912. 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, Clement Duhour was the son of a baker. At age 16, he became the French national champion in both the shot put and discus for the first time. 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 Felix Potin grocery store. Three days later, he quit to become an entertainer at the Lapin Agile under the stage name of Guy Lormont. In 1932, he takes part as a shot putter in the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles where he tosses the shot well beyond the 45-foot mark without much preparation. The following year, he is crowned national champion in the shot put.
During the German occupation of France, Duhour opens his own cabaret, Le Cavalier, on the Rue de Ponthieu, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. He also starts his movie career as "Boris Ivanovitch" in L'Age 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. In 1942, Duhour met Viviane Romance and they married in 1943. Together they created the production company Izarra Films, "izarra" meaning "star" in Basque.
After the end of the Second World War, Clement Duhour becomes Sacha Guitry's regular producer and collaborator through his production company "CLM" (Courts et Longs Metrages), whose name is meant as a quasi-acronym of his first name, Clement ("Clem"). This association would prove fruitful in the 1950's 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.
Clement Duhour also paid tribute to Sacha Guitry's memory after his death in 1957 by directing and producing Life Together (La Vie a deux) in 1958.
He died "of natural causes" on January 3, 1983, in Neuilly. He was 71 years old.