Editing Gabriel Axel

{{Short description|Danish film director, actor, writer and producer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| image            = Gabriel Axel (1959).jpg
| caption          = Gabriel Axel (1959)
| name             = Gabriel Axel
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1918|4|18|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Aarhus]], Denmark
| birth_name       = Axel Gabriel Erik Mørch
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|2014|2|9|1918|4|18|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Bagsværd]] (near [[Copenhagen]]), Denmark
| nationality      = Danish
| education        = Actor
| alma_mater       = [[Royal Danish Theatre]]
| occupation       = Film director, actor, writer, producer
| years_active     = 1945–2001
| known_for        = ''[[Babette's Feast]]''
| spouse           = Lucie Juliette Laraignou (m. 1948–1996)
| children         = 4<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://ekstrabladet.dk/underholdning/dkkendte/article4648311.ece|title=Gabriel Axel sang franske sange aftenen, før han døde|first=Af: Helle Kastholm|last=Hansen|website=ekstrabladet.dk|date=10 February 2014 }}</ref>
| awards           = [[Academy Award for Best International Feature Film|Academy Award]]<br />[[Rungstedlund Award]]
}}

'''Axel Gabriel Erik Mørch''' better known as '''Gabriel Axel''' (18 April 1918&nbsp;– 9 February 2014)<ref name="Bergan">[[Ronald Bergan]] [https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/10/gabriel-axel Obituary: Gabriel Axel], ''The Guardian'', 10 February 2014</ref> was a Danish film director, actor, writer and producer, best known for ''[[Babette's Feast]]'' (1987), which he wrote and directed.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26120512|title=Babette's Feast director Gabriel Axel dies|access-date=10 February 2014|work=BBC News|date=10 February 2014 }}</ref><ref name="digitalcommons.unomaha.edu">{{cite web|url=http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol16/iss2/10/|title="Babette's Feast and the Goodness of God" by Thomas J. Curry|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130215210234/http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol16/iss2/10/|archive-date=15 February 2013|df=dmy}}</ref>

== Biography ==
Born in [[Aarhus]], Denmark, on 18 April 1918,<ref name="Mørch2008">{{cite book|author=Karin Mørch|title=Gabriels gæstebud|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dvqAevpoa30C&pg=PA19|year=2008|publisher=Gyldendal A/S|language=da|isbn=978-87-02-06775-0|pages=19–}}</ref> Axel spent most of his childhood in [[Paris]] in a wealthy Danish manufacturer's family.

In 1935, at age 17 following the family's economic collapse, he moved to Denmark and trained as a [[Cabinetry|cabinet maker]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.information.dk/157998|title=Halv franskmand, halv dansker, hel ildsjæl|work=Information|date=17 April 2008 }}</ref> In 1942, Axel was admitted to the acting school at the [[Royal Danish Theatre]] in Copenhagen. After graduating in 1945, he returned to France, where he spent five years on stage in Paris, including at the [[Théâtre de l'Athénée]] under theatre director [[Louis Jouvet]]. During the winter of 1948–1949 he produced [[Ludvig Holberg]]'s ''Diderich Menschenskraek'' (''Diderich the Terrible'') at [[Théâtre de Paris]].<ref name="Inc.1948">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ePUDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA41|title=Billboard|date=3 January 1948|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|pages=41–|issn=0006-2510}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Billboard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cfUiAQAAMAAJ|date=September 1949|publisher=Billboard Publications}}</ref><ref name="Krak1980">{{cite book|author=Ove Holger Krak|title=Kraks blå bog|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MYY3AAAAMAAJ|year=1980|publisher=Krak.|isbn=9788772251820|language=da}}</ref>

Axel returned to Denmark in 1950, and broke through as a stage director in the early 1950s. His productions included ''La tête des autres'' (''Other People's Heads'') by [[Marcel Aymé]], ''[[Le Cid]]'' by [[Pierre Corneille]], and ''[[Duel of Angels|Pour Lucrèce]]'' by [[Jean Giraudoux]].<ref name="Lécureur1997">{{cite book|author=Michel Lécureur|title=Marcel Ayme|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_XpcAAAAMAAJ|date=1 January 1997|publisher=Les Belles Lettres/Archimbaud|language=fr|isbn=978-2-251-44107-8|page=134}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Cahiers Jean Giraudoux|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fa1cAAAAMAAJ|year=1981|publisher=B. Grasset|language=fr|page=231}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Perspektiv|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQLkAAAAMAAJ|year=1954|publisher=H. Reitzel|language=da|page=51}}</ref><ref name="Engberg1958">{{cite book|author=Harald Engberg|title=Dansk teater i halvtredserne|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KN9AAQAAIAAJ|year=1958|publisher=Carit Andersen forl.|language=da|page=63}}</ref> Axel started directing for television in 1951, and, from 1951 to 1968, did some 48 television dramas.<ref name="Danske filmskuespillere: 525 portrætter 2003">{{cite book|first=Morten|last=Piil|title=Danske filmskuespillere: 525 portrætter|publisher=Gyldendal|year=2003|isbn=978-87-02-02104-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uTfvg7es7VQC&pg=SL2-PA25|language=da|access-date=19 February 2018|page=SL2-PA25}}</ref>

From 1955, Axel was a director at [[Nordisk Film]].<ref name="Keller1999">{{cite book|author=J. R. Keith Keller|title=Karen Blixen og filmen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wTLkAAAAMAAJ|date=1 January 1999|publisher=Aschehoug|language=da|isbn=978-87-11-11311-0|page=147}}</ref> His debut feature, the social-realist drama ''[[Altid ballade|Nothing But Trouble]]'' (1955), was highly praised, and the breakthrough came with the TV film ''[[En kvinde er overflødig|A Woman Not Wanted]]'' in 1957.<ref name="HjortBondebjerg2003">{{cite book|author1=Mette Hjort|author2=Ib Bondebjerg|title=The Danish Directors: Dialogues on a Contemporary National Cinema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kdn-Q6DUbBgC&pg=PT58|date=1 January 2003|publisher=Intellect Books|isbn=978-1-84150-841-2|pages=58–}}</ref><ref name="Langkjær">{{cite book|author=Birger Langkjær|title=Realismen i dansk film|year=2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b4SWzwYVgA0C&pg=PA152|publisher=Samfundslitteratur|language=da|isbn=978-87-593-1598-9|pages=152–}}</ref>

He went on to direct a string of lighter comedies and farces before making the epic Nordic saga ''[[Hagbard and Signe|The Red Mantle]]'' in 1967,<ref name="Ebert2009">{{cite book|author=Roger Ebert|title=Roger Ebert's Four Star Reviews--1967-2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v43dJNPMJIkC&pg=PA311|date=15 June 2009|publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|isbn=978-0-7407-9217-5|pages=311–}}</ref> which was selected for [[Cannes Film Festival]] competition and won a Technical Prize (''Mention spéciale du grand prix technique'') at the [[1967 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Danish Films|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sjUIAQAAMAAJ|year=1994|publisher=Danish Film Institute|page=18}}</ref><ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/2762/year/1967.html|title=Festival de Cannes: Hagbard and Signe|access-date=8 March 2009|work=festival-cannes.com}}</ref> His other films include the popular comedy ''[[Familien Gyldenkål|The Goldcabbage Family]]'' (1975) and its sequel, and a series of sexually oriented features including the campaigning ''[[Det kære legetøj]]'' (1968) which advocated the legalisation of [[pornography in Denmark]].<ref name="Bondebjerg2012">{{cite book|author=Ib Bondebjerg|title=Virkelighedsbilleder: den moderne danske dokumentarfilm|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rGR0iGbfA4EC&pg=PA195|year=2012|publisher=Samfundslitteratur|language=da|isbn=978-87-593-1629-0|pages=195–}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.information.dk/487684|title=Dansk films seje overlever|work=Information|date=11 February 2014 }}</ref>

With some 16 feature films to his credits Axel returned to [[France]] in 1977, where he directed several large projects for French television, culminating in 1985 with a historical five-episode series, ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Les Colonnes du ciel|fr}}'' (''Heaven's Pillars'').

In 1987, Axel returned to Denmark to direct what had been his dream project for over 15 years, and is considered his masterpiece, an adaptation of [[Karen Blixen]]'s ''[[Babette's Feast]]''.  After screening at the Cannes Film Festival, the film won the [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film]] at the [[60th Academy Awards]] among others.<ref name="digitalcommons.unomaha.edu" /><ref name="Maltin2013">{{cite book|author=Leonard Maltin|title=Leonard Maltin's 2014 Movie Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sfw2AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT148|date=3 September 2013|publisher=Penguin Group US|isbn=978-1-101-60955-2|pages=148–}}</ref><ref name="HaardtKorte2002">{{cite book|author1=Maaike de Haardt|author2=Anne-Marie Korte|title=Common Bodies: Everyday Practices, Gender and Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YuU4avqzPoIC&pg=PA20|year=2002|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-8258-5578-9|pages=20–}}</ref>

His next films, the youth drama ''[[Christian (1989 film)|Christian]]'' (1989), the historical drama ''[[Prince of Jutland]]'' (1994), after the legend of [[Hamlet (legend)|Prince Amleth]], and starring [[Helen Mirren]], [[Gabriel Byrne]], and [[Christian Bale]], and ''[[Leïla (2001 film)|Leïla]]'' (2001), a love story set in Morocco, failed to achieve the same international resonance.

Alongside his directing career, Axel acted in a dozen Danish films, mostly in colourful supporting roles in popular comedies in the 1950s and 60s. He played the lead as the elegant charlatan [[Marcel de Sade]] in ''[[The Reluctant Sadist]]'' (1967).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ekkofilm.dk/artikler/gabriel-axel-er-dod/|title=Gabriel Axel er død|website=www.ekkofilm.dk}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Cinema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ae4QqlUDt9wC&pg=PA66|date=31 August 2012|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-5524-3|pages=66–}}</ref><ref name="Lafarga">{{cite book|author=Francisco Lafarga|title=Le XVIIIe siècle aujourd'hui. Présences, lectures et réécritures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_p3K-i5MqEC&pg=PA131|publisher=Editions Le Manuscrit|language=fr|isbn=978-2-304-23419-0|pages=131–}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ugeavisen.dk/|title=Ugeavisen.dk → Din indgang til alle ugeaviserne under Jysk Fynske Medier &#124; Ugeavisen.dk|website=ugeavisen.dk}}</ref>

Axel in 1995, was made a Knight of the French [[National Order of Merit (France)|National Order of Merit]], in 2000 Commander of the [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]], and in 2003 was made Officer of the [[Legion of Honour]].<ref name="Boas 2003">{{cite news| last=Boas| first=Kirsten| title=Gabriel Axel hædret med Frankrigs fineste orden| work=Kristeligt Dagblad| date=18 October 2003| url=https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/kirke-tro/gabriel-axel-hædret-med-frankrigs-fineste-orden| language=da| access-date=19 February 2018}}</ref> In 2003, Axel received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the [[Copenhagen International Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2014/film/people-news/babettes-feast-director-gabriel-axel-dead-at-95-1201096161/|title='Babette's Feast' Director Gabriel Axel Dead At 95|work=Variety|date=10 February 2014 }}</ref> In 2012 he received the [[Rungstedlund Award]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blixen.dk/en/rooms-and-the-building/the-rungstedlund-foundation/|title=THE RUNGSTEDLUND FOUNDATION|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226051956/http://blixen.dk/en/rooms-and-the-building/the-rungstedlund-foundation/|archive-date=26 December 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Axel died in his sleep on 9 February 2014 at the age of 95.<ref name="died">{{cite web|url=http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Kultur/Oevrig_kultur/2014/02/10/060934.htm|title=Filminstruktøren Gabriel Axel er død|access-date=10 February 2014|work=[[Danmarks Radio]]|date=10 February 2014 }}</ref><ref name="auto"/>

== Selected filmography ==
{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible"
|-
! scope="col"| Year
! scope="col"| Title
! scope="col"| Credits
! scope="col" class="unsortable"| Notes
|-
| 1955|| ''[[Altid ballade]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1955|| ''[[Der kom en dag]]''|| Actor||
|-
| 1956|| ''[[Kispus]]''|| Actor||
|-
| 1957|| ''[[En kvinde er overflødig]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1958|| ''[[The Girls Are Willing]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1958|| ''[[Styrmand Karlsen]]''|| Actor||
|-
| 1959|| ''[[Helle for Helene]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1960|| ''[[Flemming og Kvik]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1962|| ''[[Peters baby]]''|| Actor||
|-
| 1962|| ''[[Oskar (film)|Oskar]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1962|| ''[[Han, hun, Dirch og Dario]]''|| Actor||
|-
| 1962|| ''[[Crazy Paradise]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1963|| ''[[Vi har det jo dejligt]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1963|| ''[[Three Girls in Paris]]''|| Director, actor||
|-
| 1963|| ''[[Paradise and Back]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1965|| ''[[En ven i bolignøden]]''|| Actor||
|-
| 1966|| ''[[Dyden går amok]]''|| Actor||
|-
| 1967|| ''[[Hagbard and Signe]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1967|| ''[[The Reluctant Sadist]]''|| Actor||
|-
| 1968|| ''[[Det kære legetøj]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1970|| ''[[Amour (1970 film)|Amour]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1971|| ''[[Med kærlig hilsen]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1972|| ''[[Soft Shoulders, Sharp Curves]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1972|| ''[[Nu går den på Dagmar]]''|| Actor||
|-
| 1975|| ''[[Familien Gyldenkål]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1976|| ''[[Familien Gyldenkål sprænger banken]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1977|| ''[[Going for Broke (1977 film)|Going for Broke]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1987|| ''[[Babette's Feast]]''|| Director|| Academy Award
|-
| 1989|| ''[[Christian (1989 film)|Christian]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1994|| ''[[Prince of Jutland]]''|| Director||
|-
| 1995|| ''[[Lumière and Company]]''|| Director|| Segment
|-
| 2001|| ''[[Leïla (2001 film)|Leïla]]''|| Director||
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb name|name=Gabriel Axel|id=0002196}}
* {{Danish National Filmography name|381}}

{{Gabriel Axel}}
{{AcademyAwardBestForeignLanguageFilm 1981–2000}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Axel, Gabriel}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:2014 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Danish male actors]]
[[Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]]
[[Category:Danish film directors]]
[[Category:Danish male screenwriters]]
[[Category:Directors of Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:Filmmakers who won the Best Foreign Language Film BAFTA Award]]
[[Category:Male actors from Aarhus]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Writers from Aarhus]]