Claude Laydu

Claude Laydu

Claude Laydu ([klod lɛjdy]; 10 March 1927 – 29 July 2011) was a Belgian-born Swiss actor on stage and in films. He was renowned for his performance in his film debut in the role of the young priest in Robert Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest (1951), which has been described as one of the greatest in the history of film. Laydu was born and grew up in Brussels. He moved to Paris to study at the National Academy of Dramatic Arts. He became a member of Madeleine Renaud and Jean-Louis Barrault's company at the Théâtre Marigny, when he was selected by director Robert Bresson for his first role in a film, as the titular young priest in Diary of a Country Priest, based on the 1936 novel of the same name by Georges Bernanos. They met to discuss the role, and Laydu prepared by spending time in a monastery and losing weight. While Bresson sometimes suggested acting got in the way of his moviemaking, Laydu, a practicing Catholic, "brought his own spirituality, instinctive presence and intense ascetic looks to the role." Claude Laydu's performance in the title role has been described as one of the greatest in the history of film. Jean Tulard, in his Dictionary of Film, wrote of him in this work, "No other actor deserves to go to heaven as much as Laydu." Laydu's next film, Le Voyage en Amérique (Trip to America, 1951), was a light comedy, but he was seen to have an austere style. His next film was Au Coeur de la Casbah (Heart of the Casbah, 1952), where he struggled in an affair; he played a lawyer of a man condemned to death in Nous Sommes Tous des Assassins (We Are All Murderers), the director André Cayatte's protest against the death penalty; and in Le Chemin de Damas (The Road to Damascus), Laydu played Saint Etienne (Saint Stephen). He played roles as a priest in La Guerra de Dios (I Was a Parish Priest, 1953) and as the title character, the Russian Orthodox Rasputin (1954). Over the next decade, Laydu worked in film steadily until Mafia alla sbarra (1963). His only two film projects after that were Le Destin de Priscilla Davies (1979) and Nounours (1995), which he co-wrote with his wife, Christine. In 1962 he and his wife developed a puppet show for television, called Bonne nuit les petits (Good Night, Little Ones). Five minutes long, it was shown nightly and its characters Nounours, Pimprenelle and Nicolas became known by generations of French children, as it was produced for more than a decade. Laydu performed the voice of the Sandman, who spoke the title each night. Laydu and his wife revived it in 1995 as Nounours and it ran for several years. There was associated development and marketing of numerous related books, records, videos and dolls. He and co-star Linette Lemercier (who voiced Oscar) were the only ones who reprised their roles in the reboot series. The show became very popular in Canada as it airs on Ici Radio-Canada Télé right before Le Téléjournal Ce Soir.

  • Title: Claude Laydu
  • Popularity: 0.728
  • Known For: Acting
  • Birthday: 1927-03-10
  • Place of Birth: Etterbeek, Belgium
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As:
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Claude Laydu Movies

  • 1953
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    Good Lord Without Confession

    Good Lord Without Confession

    5.5 1953 HD

    Stuck in a loveless marriage, bourgeois industrialist Francois falls in love with Janine, another man's wife. Francois sets up Janine as his...

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  • 1951
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    Diary of a Country Priest

    Diary of a Country Priest

    7.5 1951 HD

    An inexperienced, sickly priest shows up in the rural French community of Ambricourt, where he joins the community's clergy. But the locals don't...

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  • 1952
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    Heart of the Casbah

    Heart of the Casbah

    7 1952 HD

    Maria-Pilar is the new wife of an Algerian gangster whom the police have just arrested. The son of a first marriage arrives in Algiers from which he...

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  • 1952
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    The Road to Damascus

    The Road to Damascus

    1 1952 HD

    Saul De Tarse is a Roman soldier who is making rough all over. He arrives at the Golgotha when the apostles remove the cross. He ruthlessly...

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  • 1953
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    I Was a Parish Priest

    I Was a Parish Priest

    7 1953 HD

    A young priest encounters major problems in the diocese where he must preach the word of the Lord, mainly as a result of hatred caused by differences...

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  • 1963
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    Mafia alla sbarra

    Mafia alla sbarra

    1 1963 HD

    The story of a poor family and their relationship with the local mafia.

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  • 1954
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    Attila

    Attila

    5.3 1954 HD

    Attila, the leader of the barbarian Huns and called by the Romans "The Scourge of God", sweeps onto the Italian peninsula, defeating all of the...

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  • 1961
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    Italienisches Capriccio

    Italienisches Capriccio

    10 1961 HD

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  • 1952
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    We Are All Murderers

    We Are All Murderers

    6.738 1952 HD

    Originally titled Nous Sommes Tout des Assassins, We Are All Murderers was directed by Andre Cayette, a former lawyer who detested France's execution...

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  • 1953
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    Napoleon Road

    Napoleon Road

    4 1953 HD

    A greedy advertising executive wants to attract the tourists into a small village:he claims Napoleon slept in the local inn on his was back from Elbe...

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  • 1955
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    Price of Love

    Price of Love

    4.2 1955 HD

    Because he loved a trainer named Suzy too much, honest Pierre Menard wasted his life and died. Innocent, but implicated in the ransacking of a...

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  • 1956
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    Altair

    Altair

    1 1956 HD

    In the military academy of the Nisida Air Force a new course begins which sees among the new recruits called "chicks": Giorgio, forced by his father...

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  • 1954
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    Symphony of Love

    Symphony of Love

    6.5 1954 HD

    It is a biopic portraying the life of the composer Franz Schubert.

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  • 1957
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    The Wheel

    The Wheel

    6 1957 HD

    Pierre is an engine driver who adopts a small girl, a WWI orphan. A widower, he sees in her the image of her mother.

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  • 1960
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    The Dialogue of the Carmelites

    The Dialogue of the Carmelites

    6.4 1960 HD

    This drama about the Carmelite order of nuns is set during the French Revolution. A young woman seeks refuge with the Carmelites because she is...

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  • 1954
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    Rasputin

    Rasputin

    5 1954 HD

    Gregory Iefommovich Raspoutine is a monk with healing powers and a liking for debauchery who manages to insinuate himself into the court of the...

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  • 1953
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    Napoleon Road

    Napoleon Road

    4 1953 HD

    A greedy advertising executive wants to attract the tourists into a small village:he claims Napoleon slept in the local inn on his was back from Elbe...

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  • 1951
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    Trip to America

    Trip to America

    6 1951 HD

    As part of the fascination in post World War II France with American culture, a young French couple here travel to the US to see for themselves the...

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  • 2000
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    Bonne nuit les petits - Le meilleur de Nounours

    Bonne nuit les petits - Le meilleur de Nounours

    1 2000 HD

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  • 1962
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    Bonne nuit les petits

    Bonne nuit les petits

    6.3 1962 HD

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  • 1970
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    Bonne nuit les petits

    Bonne nuit les petits

    6.3 1970 HD

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