Emerging from a modest Parisian family-his father a mechanic and his mother a housewife-he turned to the stage in the mid-1920s after a series of odd jobs, contacting Louis Jouvet and joining the latter’s troupe as a utility player. Over roughly fifteen years he appeared in productions by Gogol, Achard and Romains and helped launch three Jean Giraudoux premieres, including Amphitryon 38 (1929) and…
