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Max Linder
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{{Short description|French actor and director (1883–1925)}} {{about||the Swedish art director|Max Linder (art director)}} {{Infobox person | name = Max Linder | image = File:Max Linder - Feb 1922 Photoplay.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Linder in the February 1922 issue of [[Photoplay]] | birth_name = Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle | birth_date = {{birth date|1883|12|16|df=yes}} | birth_place = Cavernes, [[Saint-Loubès]], [[Gironde]], France | death_date = {{death date and age|1925|11|1|1883|12|16|df=yes}} | death_place = Paris, France | yearsactive = 1899–1925 | occupation = Actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer, comedian | spouse = {{marriage|Hélène "Ninette" Peters|1923}} | children = [[Maud Linder]] }} '''Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle'''<ref>Although Max's birth name has often been given as Gabriel-Maximillien, his birth certificate only lists him as "Gabriel Leuvielle".</ref><ref name="books.google.com">{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_qtuDwAAQBAJ&q=1883&pg=PA1892|title=Max Linder: Father of Film Comedy|last1=Mathiesen|first1=Snorre Smári|year=2018}}</ref> (16 December 1883<ref>Linder himself claimed that he was born in 1885, and 1882 has also been proposed as his year of birth. His daughter, however, consistently stated that the year he was born was 1883, and showed his birth certificate in the documentary ''The Man in the Silk Hat''.</ref><ref name="books.google.com"/>{{spaced ndash}}1 November 1925), known professionally as '''Max Linder''' ({{IPA|fr|maks lɛ̃.dɛʁ|lang}}), was a French actor, [[Film director|director]], [[screenwriter]], [[Film producer|producer]], and [[comedian]] of the [[silent film|silent film era]]. His onscreen persona "Max" was one of the first recognizable recurring characters in film. He has also been cited as the "first international movie star"<ref>Waldekranz, Rune: Filmens Historia - Del 1, p. 208 (P.A. Norstedt & Söners Förlag, Stockholm)</ref> and "the first film star anywhere".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/22/fame-at-last-was-this-the-worlds-first-film-star |title=Fame at last – was this the world's first film star? |last=Hutchinson |first=Pamela |date=2019-11-22 |website=The Guardian |access-date=2019-11-24 |quote=Andrew Shail, senior lecturer in film at Newcastle University, has uncovered what appears to be the first film-star marketing: a poster for a Pathé Frères film featuring [Max] Linder called Le Petit Jeune Homme, released in Europe in September 1909. Whereas Linder had been known on-screen as a first-name-only character called "Max" since 1907's The Skater's Debut, this poster uses his full name, and is thus the earliest surviving European evidence of publicity for a regular film performer. [...] 'This makes Linder – as far as we can tell – the first film star anywhere,'}}</ref> Born in Cavernes, France to Catholic parents, Linder grew up with a passion for theater and enrolled in the [[Conservatoire de Bordeaux]] in 1899. He soon received awards for his performances and continued to pursue a career in the legitimate theater. He became a contract player with the Bordeaux Théâtre des Arts from 1901 to 1904, performing in plays by [[Molière]], [[Pierre Corneille]], and [[Alfred de Musset]]. From the summer of 1905, Linder appeared in short comedy films for [[Pathé]], at first usually in supporting roles. His first major film role was in the [[Georges Méliès]]-like [[fantasy film]] ''The Legend of Punching''. During the following years, Linder made several hundred [[short film]]s portraying "Max", a wealthy and dapper man-about-town frequently in hot water because of his penchant for beautiful women and the good life. Starting with ''The Skater's Debut'' in 1907, the character became one of the first identifiable motion-picture characters who appeared in successive situation comedies. By 1911, Linder was co-directing his own films (with René LePrince) as well as writing the scripts. Linder enlisted at the outbreak of the First World War, and worked at first as a dispatch driver and entertainer. During his service, he was injured several times, and the experiences reportedly had a devastating effect on him both physically and mentally.<ref>Mathiesen, Snorre Smàri: "Max Linder: Father of Film Comedy" (Classic Images, March 2012, p. 76)<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref> Linder later moved to the U.S. but was unable to achieve success. He died in 1925 in a purported [[suicide pact]] with his wife in Paris.
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