Pagnol, Marcel [key], 1895–1974, French dramatist and film director. Pagnol gained recognition for his trilogy of sentimental comedies set on the Marseilles waterfront—Marius (1929), Fanny (1931), and César (1936)—for which he wrote the screenplays (1931, 1932, 1934). He used César for his directorial debut. Other films include The Well-Digger's Daughter (1940) and Letters from My Windmill (1955). Merlusse (1935, tr. 1937) embodies Pagnol's theories of the film art. His other works include the plays Judas (1956) and Angèle (1970). In 1986, the two-part film Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources, based on Pagnol's novel The Water of the Hills (1962), met great success. His reminiscences form the basis of two critically acclaimed 1991 films, My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle.
See his memoir, The Days Were Too Short (tr. 1960).
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