Henri Ou Henry Le Roman de Mon Pere

At the age of eight, to help his family who live in a garret of the Saint-Gervais district, Henri Decoin leaves school and becomes a delivery boy. Forty years later, in September 1937, he arrives in Hollywood on 21-year-old Danielle Darrieux's arm. In the interval, he has been a furrier apprentice, a water-polo national champion, and a sport journalist. In 1917, decorated with the Croix de guerre and a member of the Légion d'honneur for his conduct as an officer during the war, he publishes his first, autobiographical novel Jeph, le roman d'un As, followed ten years later with Flambeau dans la nuit. It is thanks to traveling shows that teenager Decoin discovered the magic of cinema. From 1933 to 1964 he completes around forty films, working with the greatest actors, from Danielle Darrieux to Jean Gabin and Jean Marais. It is this exceptional life-story that his son, Didier, recounts in this book. How Henri became Henry, the director of Premier rendez-vous (First Affair) and La vérité sur Bébé Donge (The Truth about Bébé Donge) amongst other great hits of the cinema. This is an affecting and sensitive portrayal of a remarkable man by an equally remarkable novelist.Didier Decoin was born in 1945 in Boulogne Billancourt. Awarded the Goncourt Prize for John L'enfer (Seuil, 1977), he is the author of twenty works amongst which Jésus, le Dieu qui riait published at Stock in 1999.