Alphonse Boudard

Alphonse Boudard (17 December 1925 in Paris - 14 January 2000 in Nice) is a French novelist and playwright. He won the 1977 Prix Renaudot for Les Combattants du petit bonheur. Boudard's 1995 novel Dying childhood was awarded and recognised by the French Academy with a Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française.

Biography

Boudard was the illegitimate child of a mother who failed to raise him. He was born in Paris on the 17 December 1925. He was brought up by his grandparents in the Loiret region of France. Boudard had a late career. As a teenager he was living in a country occupied by the German Army. He was wounded fighting for the French and he was awarded a military medal. His early adult life was spent in casual work, periods in jail and in a sanatorium recovering from tuberculosis. He experimenting with writing, but it was not until he was 33 that he decided to be a full time writer. He credits the writer Albert Paraz with inspiring this move.

His novels are characterised by the colloquial terms and slang that Boudard used to describe life in the 1940s. His works are autobiographical and he uses his periods in a sanatorium and in jail as a basis for his stories. His 1963 novel, The Cherry” and his 1972 story “The Hospital” are examples as is his 1992 novel 'The amazing Mr Joseph' which tells the story of a French spiv who becomes a millionaire dealing on the black market during the war.

Many of Boudard novels were adapted for French films and television.

Boudard died in Nice on the 14 January 2000.

Novels

• 1962 : The Metamorphosis of woodlice
• 1963 : The Cherry
• 1966 : Bleubite).
• 1972 : The Hospital
• 1974 : Cinoche
• 1977 : The Fighters of haphazard
• 1979 : The Hearse Jules
• 1980 : The Dinner of leopards
• 1983 : The Café of the poor
• 1987 : The Education of Alphonse
• 1993 : Saint-Fredo
• 1995 : Dying childhood
• 1996 : Madame de ... Saint Sulpice - Editions du Rocher
• 1998 : The Strange Mr. Joseph - Robert Laffont (Biography of Joseph Joanovici)
• 1999 : Dear visitor
• 2000 : The Three Mothers of little Jesus - Robert Laffont. Georges Simenon Award - Prix Georges Brassens

Miscellaneous

• 1970: The slang without penalty or the method Mimile (Collaboration: Luc Etienne ) - The Round Table
• 1975: Gypsy went to the table Flammarion
• 1982: The choirboys
• 1986: Closure
• 1988: My life is full of holes (told to Daniel Costelle) Plon
• 1989: The great criminals - The Pre Clerics
• 1990: The golden age of brothels - Albin Michel
• 1990: Preface to the dictionary of slang - Larousse
• 1992: Incidents and Punishment - The Pre Clerics
• 1997: What novels that our crimes - Editions du Rocher
• 1997: Back to Liancourt

Theatre

• 2002: Call Me Chief - Lansman (see "Cell 118" below)
• 1996: St. Alphonse Boudard - Pocket Montparnasse
• 1995: "Unit 118" - Small Hebertot
• 1983: Sales Mômes - Petit Marigny

Albums photos and texts

• 1992: Paris haphazardly (Photos by Jean-Louis Courtinat) - Editions du Perron
• 1993: The Daily Wine - Editions Du May
• 1993: Bercy (Photo JC and Philippe Gautraud) - Marval
• 1994: The night of Paris (Photo by Yves Manciet) - Pierre Bordas
• 1998: La valse musette and accordion dances and dance halls in collaboration with Marcel Azzola - Solar
• 1998: People unimportant (Photo: Jerome Ducrot) - Albin Michel

Film Adaptations

• 1964: The Prison (Documentary)
• 1965: La Métamorphose des cloportes (The Metamorphosis of woodlice) (adaptation and dialogue with Michel Audiard and Albert Simonin) - Director: Pierre Granier Deferre, with Lino Ventura, Charles Aznavour, Irina Demick, Pierre Brasseur, Georges Geret Maurice Biraud, Francoise Rosay
• 1965: Rififi at Paname (adaptation and dialogue) - Director: Denys de La Patelliere with Jean Gabin, Gert Froebe, George Raft, Nadja Tiller, Mireille Darc, Marcel Bozzuffi
• 1966: The Gardener of Argenteuil (adaptation and dialogue) - Director: Jean-Paul Le Chanois with Jean Gabin, Liselotte Pulver, Pierre Vernier, Curd Jürgens, Mary Marquet
• 1967: The sun thugs (adaptation and dialogue) - Director: Jean Delannoy Jean Gabin, Robert Stack, Suzanne Flon, Margaret Lee
• 1968 The Tattooed (screenplay) - Director: Denys de la Patellière with Jean Gabin, Louis de Funes, Dominique Davray, Paul Mercey
• 1971: Sprout Story (short film directed by the author)
• 1972: The Gang of hostages (scenario, adaptation and dialogue) - Director: Edouard Molinaro, Daniel Cauchy, Bulle Ogier, Gilles Segal
• 1975: Flic Story (Adaptation and dialogues by Roger Borniche) - Director: Jacques Deray, Alain Delon, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Renato Salvatori, Claudine Auger
• 1976: The Gang (screenplay with Jean-Claude Carriere from Roger Borniche)-Director: Jacques Deray, Alain Delon, Nicole Calfan, Maurice Barrier, Raymond Bussières
• 1982: The Hearse Jules (adaptation and dialogue) - Director: Serge Pénard with Jean-Marc Thibault, Henri and Francis Perrin Courseaux
• 1986: Le Solitaire (The Lonely) (Adaptation) - Director: Jacques Deray, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Michel Creton, Pierre Vernier

TELEVISION

• 1978: Madame Justice (episode) - Director: Edouard Molinaro Simone Signoret
• 1978: The season of Thieves (adaptation and dialogue) - Director: Michel Wyn
• 1981: The pathological liar (series of 6 episodes) - Director: Michel Wyn with Francis Perrin, Suzy Delair, Jacques Balutin
• 1982: The high gear (scenario, adaptation and dialogue) - Director: Maurice Fasquelle with André Pousse
• 1986: What a novel my life! (Daniel Costelle two programs devoted to the author)
• 1989: The great criminals (documentary series) - Director: Daniel Costelle