History Creator / SachaGuitry

** Stage actors Sarah Bernhardt (one of the mistresses of his father), André Antoine, Lucien Guitry (his own father), Henri Desfontaines and Jane Faber.

While he became interested in "moving pictures" as soon as The20thCentury started (it's thanks to him that we have surviving footage of several renowned French artists and writers from before 1914), {{silent movie}}s didn't appeal to him at all due to not having dialogues. As soon as the UsefulNotes/RiseOfTheTalkies in the 1930s, Guitry enthusiastically embraced filmmaking, making as many as five films in a single year, always starring in them and writing them.

Critics of his time generally thought of his films as "just filmed theatre" and sometimes summing them up as "actors just standing there listening to his monologues", but critics of the time of the UsefulNotes/FrenchNewWave would be much more appreciative later on, finding in him a ''total [[UsefulNotes/TheAuteurTheory auteur]]'' who was, to them, on par with the likes of Creator/CharlieChaplin or Creator/AlfredHitchcock.

** Stage actors Sarah Bernhardt (one of the mistresses of his father), André Antoine, Lucien Guitry (his own father), Henri Desfontaines and Jane Faber ([[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers who was Belgian]]).

* AuthorAppeal: The history of France in general, but he had particular interest in the UsefulNotes/{{Napoleon|Bonaparte}}ic [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars era]] and made a dozen films about it.

* AuthorAppeal: He had particular interest in the UsefulNotes/{{Napoleon|Bonaparte}}ic [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars era]] and made a dozen films about it.

* ''Film/TheStoryOfACheat'' (1936) as the Cheat
* ''[[Film/Napoleon1955 Napoléon]]'' (1955) as Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord

He had difficult relationships with critics of his time who generally thought of his films as "just filmed theatre" and sometimes summing them up as "actors just standing there listening to his monologues", but critics of the time of the UsefulNotes/FrenchNewWave would be much more appreciative later on, finding in him a ''total [[UsefulNotes/TheAuteurTheory auteur]]'' who was, to them, on par with the likes of Creator/CharlieChaplin or Creator/AlfredHitchcock.

He had difficult relationships with critics of his time who generally thought of his films as "just filmed theatre" and sometimes summing them up as "actors just standing there listening to his monologues", but critics of the time of the UsefulNotes/FrenchNewWave would be much more appreciative later on, finding in him a ''total [[UsefulNotes/TheAuteurTheory auteur]]'' on par with the likes of Creator/CharlieChaplin or Creator/AlfredHitchcock.

* DeadpanSnarker: For Guitry, the wittier, the drier the wit and more deadpan the dialogue, the better it was. It was true for both his plays and his films, and for the characters he played.

* [[invoked]]HeAlsoDid: He personally knew quite a few late 19th century French artists and writers and filmed them before UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, including them in his 1915 documentary ''Ceux de chez nous'' and voicing out what they told him. He re-released it in 1952 with commentaries by himself in his office with objects that belonged to them so it wouldn't just be "archive footage". It's thanks to him that footage of them exists. Those included:

The son of leading French stage actor Lucien Guitry, he was born in UsefulNotes/SaintPetersburg, UsefulNotes/{{Tsarist|Russia}} UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}. After a few years of back an forth between France and Russia until 1889 (during which he got to play before UsefulNotes/{{tsar|Tsar Autocrats}} UsefulNotes/NicholasII himself at age 4), he followed in his father's footsteps and became known for his stage performances, particularly in boulevard theatre roles. He also became a playwright, writing 115 plays ranging from historical dramas (he loved French history) to contemporary light comedies throughout his career. He was married five times, always to rising actresses whose careers he helped grow. He was something of a master at very witty [[DeadpanSnarker snark]], be it in real life or in the things he wrote.

He had difficult relationships with critics of his time who generally thought of his films as "just filmed theatre" and sometimes summing them up as "actors just being there listening to his monologues", but critics of the time of the UsefulNotes/FrenchNewWave would be much more appreciative later on, finding in him a ''total [[UsefulNotes/TheAuteurTheory auteur]]'' on par with the likes of Creator/CharlieChaplin or Creator/AlfredHitchcock.