Charles de Rochefort, a true Pharaoh

In the audio commentary of the Blu-ray of Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, historian Katherine Orrison, although captivating, brushes off her description of one of the main stars of the film: Charles de Roche was in that movie and then... vanished without a trace.
And yet...

Bohemian Nobility

The Count Charles d'Authier de Rochefort allegedly was in more than 300 films.
Born in Port-Vendres on July 7, 1887, brown eyes, brown hair, he spends his childhood in Oran.

His aristocrat family throws him out in the street as, still a minor, he has just been hired by the troop "La comédie de l'époque" after he left his position as an insurance salesman that he had taken to please his mother.

He ends up penniless in a shabby room under a roof, but shines in plays like "Sous l'épaulette", "Maman Colibri", etc.

His mother, ashamed of the dishonor that Charles brought upon the family, intervenes to have the manager of the theater fire her son.

Charles then has to sleep outside. Thanks to a friend, he finds a job as a high society coach in the afternoons and spends his mornings writing realist poems that he reads in the evenings at the Lapin à Gill, then at La bohème, a cabaret run by the singer Bréas, where Charles's pseudonym is "Jean Misère" (=John Misery).

There, he meets an actor from "La comédie de l'époque" who advises him to try his luck in Vincennes at the Pathé studios in order to work for the cinema industry. The paycheck is only FF5 a day but that can be beefed up by shooting in water, or by lending your own clothes, etc.

At the time, this is where Lucien Nonguet works (that he identifies in his autobiography as the director of Talion instead of Gaston Velle), as well as his assistant Louis Gasnier, and "Désiré" that he describes as giving bizarre and anachronistic directions to Charles IX during the St Bartholomew massacre, thus underlining the lack of professionalism of the industry at the time.

First films

Charles therefore steps up there wearing a frock in the middle of a crowd of poor unfortunate souls hoping to win a few francs by appearing in films. He does get a job but, unconvinced by the experience, spends a long time without renewing it.

He goes to 66 rue Caumartin to visit the famous Édouard de Max to find out if he thinks he has a future in the business. The actor comforts him in that thought and decides to protects him. They both share the stage in Monte Carlo for the play "Soir de Pâques". He also plays small parts at the Odéon in Les ventres dorés by Émile Fabre or La passion by Edmond Haraucourt.

To avoid a similar problem with his family, Charles multiplies the pseudonyms which differ depending on the register of the part: he is Paul Berley at the Odéon, Armand Vassy with the "Compagnie des tournées de la bonne chanson" of Théodore Botrel and Royal Kid at the music-hall. Only after Word War I does he use his real name.

In the meantime, he sets up a revolutionary show, becomes a wrestler in fairs, a trapeze artist,...

He also tries his luck at the conservatory in 1906, then 1907... But he fails the exam.

He lives at 6 rue Mansart, then rue Henri Monnier with actor Girbal.

He returns to the seventh art with Le scandale de Monte-Carlo, which was never released because the "société fermière du casino monégasque" bought it and destroyed it for fear of the bad publicity for the casino.

Max Linder

He writes, produces and plays Le tango rouge with Girbal at the studio Lordier, at the Porte d'Orléans in Paris. The exteriors, shot in Versailles, cost FF8,000 and the film loses money.

Meeting Max Linder changes his career.

His athletic qualities lend him the job of stuntman for Max in spite of their very obvious height difference (6 feet for Charles and 5.1f for Max), and Charles also plays actual parts in his films: Max pratique tous les sports, Max et sa belle-mère, Max se marie, Rivalité (released on August 1, 1913), etc., and in his stage performances.

He also acts in La vengeance de Licinius by Georges Denola, plays the part of St Just for Albert Capellani in La fin de Robespierre released April 5, 1912, and a cameo in Le masque d'horreur, one of the first films directed by Abel Gance with Édouard de Max, released May 24, 1912.

He does Nick Winter serials (pre-war crime fiction), and meets Jean Dax, Signoret and other stars of the time.

Talkies Before Talkies

In 1913, Pathé makes him in charge with a surprising project: promoting an invention that enables several records to be played one after the other with no interruption by organizing opera performances sung in playback. The system gives the advantage of having actors with physiques more in keeping with the parts than those of the singers, and of course, to dispense with the orchestra. It is hard to imagine today how an audience can be fooled by the primitive sound but the fact is that the shows sell out.

Then comes the war. Charles is reformed for ankylosis of the right arm because one of his horseback riding stunt went wrong. On December 31, 1914, his brother is killed and after much insistence, he manages to enlist on March 3, 1915. He leaves for Verdun the next day.

He is soon promoted as lieutenant and after a heroic conduct, he is wounded and made a prisoner by the Germans. He attempts to escape but is transferred to East Prussia, where he must simulate folly to be sent to a sanatorium in Swiss. There, he meets Max Linder again, himself cared for a pneumonia caught at the front, who asks Charles to join him for a gala.

After the War

Once the war is over, Charles goes back in the suburbs of Paris to see Charles Folley at Gallo-Film run by Gaston Roudès at Neuilly, where production on Henri Kistemaeckers' Marthe is about to start. For FF1,200, Charles is offered a contract to renew the very stunt that gave him his fracture.

In the film released early in 1920, he shares the screen with Paulette Duval, Pierre Magnier and Contant Rémy in a small part.

In spite of an engagement for an operetta that he easily breaks, he signs another contract for a 12 episode serial by Arthur Bernède entitled Impéria with Forzane, Princess Doudjam, Gina Manès and Gilles Weber.

The shoot is spread over 6 months in Nice under the direction of Jean Durand, husband of Berthe Dagmar and supervised by René Navarre, then famous for his role of Fantômas.

In the role of the daredevil Duke of Corannes, Charles again takes advantage of his reputation of athlete and his red motorcycle, dubbed "Miss Satan" becomes as popular as its rider upon the release of the first episode on May 14, 1920.

From that point on, new offers emerge: he plays a lawyer in Fille du peuple for Camille de Morlhon (released November 26, 1920), then works for Henri Pouctal in a four episode drama: Gigolette from the story of Pierre Decourcelle, which first episode comes out on May 6, 1921 according to Pathé ads of the time, in more than 600 theaters. It is impossible to miss it and makes it a surefire success, even if Ciné Pour Tous magazine cannot avoid pointing out that American productions are better and that local filmmakers are still working according to "the old formula of cinema". Cinéa magazine believes that "the script accumulates outrageous situations." and Cinémagazine adds that "M. de Rochefort has class but has trouble looking old."

Charles remembers that Berthe Jalabert played his mother, but the Pathé archives credit her as Mlle Kergoven and Jeanne Brindeau as the mother.

Once more, he is asked to surpass himself: this time he has to fall off a cliff in the sea at Dieppe.

Director Pouctal, jealous of Charles's relationship with the female lead, does not warn him that she cannot swim when he is supposed to shoot a scene where he rescues her as she is drowning.

He then makes L'empereur des pauvres (Emperor of Paupers) by René Leprince from a story by Félicien Champsaur and starring Léon Mathot, a six episode-twelve chapter serial which is first screened on February 24, 1922

In La faute des autres with André Marnay

Then a former Spanish cinematographer-turned-director, Jacques Oliver (or "Olivers") hires him for La faute des autres. The man later married a rich heiress and put and end to his film career.

Another on-screen fight with bulky Pierre Alcover awaits Charles in this production which only hits the screen on March 30, 1923.

America in France

But as soon as mid-1921, as the public can finally see the movies he made after the war, Charles catches the attention of the American director John Robertson who offers the Frenchman to work for the British branch of Paramount in a film which exteriors are to be filmed in Spain and interiors in London. Charles accepts the offer. In fact, it is aparently not his first chance to touch an anglo-saxon audience: it woud seem that Léonce Perret had previously used his talent for a small part of a judge in The Empire of Diamonds mainly shot in France with a French and American cast and crew in February 1920, and released in the USA on December 19, 1920, and later in France on July 7, 1922. But the part is so small that his talent cannot be apprehended from that: as a matter of fact, he does not even mention it in his autobiography.

Before the British deal, he is to make three films in Provence. The first one is L'arlésienne by André Antoine from a story by Alphonse Daudet.

He remembers that the unit manager, Jean Jean, was the daughter of Lavallière and changed her sex to become a man. The film came out on November 24, 1922.

Charles makes it a profitable trip and also shoots Le Roi de Camargue (from July 1, according to Comoedia) with Jean Toulout and Claude Mérelle who plays a scene fully naked. That scene kept shortening from one theater to the next as the projectionnists would cut some frames to keep. In this film, some "subtittles" (=intertitles) moved, as the camera would pan on them. The film comes out January 20, 1922.

In Notre Dame d'amour with Irène Sabel

Yet a third film is thus shot in Provence : Notre-Dame d'Amour, a kind of French western which comes out January 26, 1923, where Charles plays, as in L'arlésienne, a gardian.

In late October 1921, Charles begins shooting The Spanish Jade in exterior for twelve weeks in the village of Carmona, near Sevilla. The head of production, Major Charles Hugh Bell, had his business cards translated to "Major Campana".
During this shoot, Magda Roche, the futur wife of westler Charles Rigoulot, makes some tests. Only later will she make her only film opposite Charles de Rochefort in La Princesse aux clowns.
After a 10 day payed Christmas vacation in Paris, Charles goes to London, at the Islington studios, for indoor shooting. It is the young and then unknown Alfred Hitchcock, an employee of the studio, who supervises and draws the titles of film.

The Spanish Jade is presented to the British press on August 1st, 1922 and, when released in Great Britain August 27, 1923, it is not a great success but allows Charles to be better known in the USA where the film is also released on April 10, 1922. Fan letters arrive.

Adolphe Osso, on a cloudy day when taxis of Paris strike, Charles is told that Spanish Jade will be released in France as Sous le soleil d'Espagne, and that the publicity will center around him as sole French member of the cast. The press sees the film on May 11, 1924 in a version apparently shortened from 2,042 to 1,420 meters in order to make his part more important to the story. The film is screened at the Max Linder Theater on August 22, 1924. Because of the delay, the French press presents the film as an American one and calls it "his American experience".

In La dame au ruban de velours with Arlette Marchal

Indeed, Charles is offered a long term contract in the United States.

He signs a $250 a week deal with Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation and cancels two of the three pictures he had planned to make in Italy for Cinès.

In Rome, he shoots La Dame au Ruban de velours directed by Guarino and starring Arlette Marchal and a young Gina Manès.

His scenes are made in priority in only eight days, by working day and night. It is more strain than his eyes can take, as studios lights were particularly intense then.

Charles, like many other actors of the time, becomes temporarily blind. Fortunately, he can rest aboard the France and recovers his sight before his arrival in New York City. The Italian film only comes out October 12, 1923.

France in America, Mr. De Roche

Before he even sets foot on American soil on November 12, 1922, the publicity machine hits him like a ton of bricks. He is interviewed on board, in is hotel at dawn, photographed everywhere... Wild and fake stories about him are published. The unwarned actor has trouble giving up his privacy, as he is expected, especially considering that this publicity is centered around the name Chas de Roche, not only shorter, but also easier to pronounce than his real name that, to an American ear, may sound like a brand of cheese.

With Douglas Fairbanks in 1923

Vexed, Charles asks Mr. Lasky, chairman of the studio, on their first encounter what he would think if one would take out the L, K and Y from his name and call him "ass". The bold joke earns him the respect of his new boss, but he eventually surrenders and accepts his new name.

In spite of this chaotic beginning, Charles appreciates the visit of New York that lasts a week with a car and studio staff to entertain him. The Marseillaise is played when he enters night clubs and he makes a 4 day journey aboard a westbound luxury train. Thus, Chas de Roche is in good spirits as he is about to shoot The Law of the Lawless under the direction of the great Victor Fleming, opposite Dorothy Dalton.

The latter, probably overwhelmed by the mass publicity around the newcomer, convinces the cinematographer to sabotage his debut. Thankfully Charles already has experience and, when shown the rushes, he immediately notices that he is being photographed under very unflattering angles. He complains to the director to put an end to it.

with Dorothy Dalton

Quirky Dorothy Dalton, in spite of the fact that she earns 7,500 dollars a week compared to Charles' $250, is not the only one trying to ruin the new star who one day finds a needle in his makeup kit.

Granted, he is introduced in newspapers as the replacement of Valentino, who has just left Paramount. A most difficult pair of shoes to fill. Photoplay compares a picture of him and one of Valentino asking the readers who they prefer to see in The Spanish Cavalier that Valentino was scheduled to make. The reply comes as obviously as it should in the form of a letter from a fan in Milwaukee who dismisses the French man as "looking like a wrestler". Only after the release of The Cheat, a remake of the previous success, are the fan letters somewhat sweeter towards him, even though critics remain harsh. Likewise Screenland, insisted in February that Charles' new name was "Charles Lasky's mistake".

The Ten Commandments

Then comes the role for which he is better remembered: Ramses II in The Ten Commandments directed by Cecil B DeMille. The film's screenwriter Jenny Mac Pharson is interested in him who prefers co-star Estelle Taylor, who plays Miriam, Moses' sister.

In a fit of jealousy, Mac Pharson sells a wild story to the papers about the actor's wife allegedly barred from the studio with her 5 year old son in her arms.

Charles is indeed married to Thérèse Forgerot but she is in their home, located 15 rue de l'hôtel des postes in Nice, France, with his only daughter Éliane, Born April 25, 1922 and who is therefore only 2 years old. Even if the story is quite stupid and Charles' first instinct is to laugh, he soon realizes that in this very puritan country, it will be enough to ruin both his reputation and career. He settles the matter by threatening the newspaper manager with a revolver.

Soon after, Estelle Taylor marries fighter Jack Dempsey who becomes a friend of Charles. All's well that ends well.

But it is not all about love in this film where his usual acrobatic feats are expected.

As he is almost trampled by horses in the scene of the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments, Cecil B de Mille offers him a motorcar to thank him and tells him that he is a true Pharaoh!

In The Marriage Maker with Agnes Ayres

The other DeMille

He likes the script of his next production, The Marriage Maker directed by William de Mille, from The Faun by Edward Knoblock, also starring Agnes Ayres and Jack Holt. He plays the faun, wonderful creature that brings together two penniless lovers. For his moves to look surnatural, he is asked to jump off a camouflaged trampoline and he breaks his foot. He also shoots a night scene with many nocturnal animals. A moth gets stuck in his ear and a doctor has to remove the insect with a pair of pliers, which is heavily publicized.
He earns a long article in Photoplay where the author mocks Charles' broken English. In it, he declares that he will spend his 5 week vacation looking at William Hart while he shoots Wild Bill Hickok. If American critics appreciate that Charles is good in the film, it seems that it was not released in his native country.

With Pola Negri in Shadow of Paris

Pola Negri

He then plays in Shadow of Paris alongside Pola Negri, with whom the relations are not only professional. Even during pre-production, Charles opposes the director who wants him to grow whiskers to fit the American cliché of the Parisian Apache. The "apaches" were crooks from Montmartre in the late XIXth century. By the 1920s, the apaches have gone out of style in Paris but British and American movies keep treating the subject with an outdated vision and these films are released years after they are produced in France where moviegoers and critics have grown more and more contemptuous towards them.

Charles, in order to protect his reputation there and by integrity, refuses to comply to the cheesy view of the director after some friction, Herbert Brennon eventually surrenders.

Charles thus earns a position of technical adviser on the film, but also a reputation of being moody.

In one of his first parts, young George O'Brien shoots a fight scene with Charles that proves so good that Pola Negri insists it be cut from the movie. The highlight of the show cannot be a scene where she does not appear!

Among Charles's compatriots, Adolphe Menjou plays one of the main roles, but Louise Lagrange, Maurice Tourneur's future wife, gets a cameo thanks to Charles. The film comes out on February 17, 1924 in the United States, and on April 24, 1925 in France.

Love and Glory at Universal

Paramount then lends their new recruit to Universal to costar with Madge Bellamy in Love and Glory probably because he is considered to be the ideal actor for this new adaptation of the novel We Are French. A previous one had been made in 1916 by the same director: The Bugler of Algiers. Charles hardly accepts the profit made by Paramount on renting him for a much bigger sum than his salary. To make matters worse, he sees director Rupert Julian as a "rude, violent, former hairdresser, an unbelievable guy". It is noteworthy that Charles shares the screen with a 14 year-old compatriot, Charles de Ravenne (called Charles de Ravenas in Photoplay), who thirteen years later will give his voice to the dwarf Happy in the French version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The film comes out on December 7, 1924.
However, French critics, who saw the film when it was presented in London, are appaled at the result. The depiction of France is at best a caricature, and mostly downright wrong: in spite of the presence of Charles in the cast, the film never comes out in France.

Barbara LaMarr and Maurice Tourneur

The actor then works for First National in The White Moth directed by Frenchman Maurice Tourneur, and co-starring the facsinating Barbara LaMarr who even co-writes the script. He saves the woman's life when her lamé dress catches on fire because of electric wires.

After this film, Charles takes a vacation in France and tours in vaudeville throughout Canada.

With Barbara LaMarr in The White Moth

Comoedia magazine announces on June13, 1924 that Charles has caught pneumonia (a fact confirmed by Photoplay in August) which is why director Léonce Perret cancels a production planned with him. the two men still get to collaborate back in France.

Back in France with Gloria

With Gloria Swanson on the Austrian poster

Indeed, Lasky sends Charles there to shoot Madame Sans-Gêne, an American production supposed to inaugurate a collaboration between the Paramount funds and talents and exteriors from France. The main actress is an international star: Gloria Swanson. The rest of the cast is mostly French: Émile Drain, Suzanne Bianchetti, Madeleine Guitty and many others animate the story by Victorien Sardou with Charles as the main star, but also, due to his experience on both sides of the Atlantic, as executive in charge of the production. Unfortunately, when it appears that the shoot will last several months, Gloria demands to leave her suite at the Crillon hotel for a luxurious manor in Paris' riches neighborhood. Charles contacts Lasky to warn him that the FF500,000 rent is incompatible with the 7 million dollar budget and he is promptly replaced by Major Bell, limiting his duties to acting.

Other quirks from the star and an overall bad handling of finances plague the production. For instance, Louis Vonelly, for his role as Maréchal Ney, only shoots once but is kept on his FF1,500 a week salary for a duration of 2.5 months. Extras are also lavishly payed.

As expected, the budget rises to 19 million francs and Paramount never renews the costly experience. Gloria Swanson only mentions Charles once in her autobiography, and only as her co-star.

Princess Huguette and the Clown King

Taking advantage of his stay in France, Charles offers producer Louis Aubert to shoot La princesse aux clowns in some of the sets made for Madame Sans-Gêne as a cost-cutting measure, opposite French female star Huguette Duflos. Of the other film, an intense lighting technique is also borrowed to make good of the use of panchromatic film for the first time in France, a type of film that is sensitive to all colors of the spectrum, unlike orthochomatic film used until then, which turned red into black and brightened blues.

Charles personnaly invests in the film, buys the right for American distribution, and edits the film himself in both versions.

On June 5, 1925, L'Arlésienne is re-released in France. On July 19, Law of the Lawless comes back and then Shadows of Paris on October 2.
The actor also opens his vaudeville act at the Olympia theater from September 4 to 17, 1925 with a selection of songs both comical and dramatic and by playing the xylophone. He also composes a song live with rhymes given to him by the audience. He is rumored to play Le Prince Zilah, directed by Gaston Roudès but an Italian actor eventually gets the part.
On November 29, 1925, he announces a tour with a dancer (he is still married), on January 2, 1926 he is in Paris, and On February 4, he leaves for America. The crossing on the SS Paris lasts from February 3 to 10, and Charles intends to stay 6 months there.

La princesse aux clowns with Huguette Duflos

One Man Show

There, Charles deals with the Keith Orpheum chain of theaters to show his act in person when  La Princesse aux clowns is shown. In St Louis, he wounds himself with a prop gun, which sends him to the hospital but increases tickets sales of subsequent shows.

In Montreal, he grabs the opportunity to become artistic director of the Saint-Denis theater. He produces the plays Michel Strogoff, Le roman d'un jeune homme pauvre, Les deux orphelines, etc. This experience will prove quite useful later.

In the meantime, in France, fan letters are published in the papers to request what happened to the actor who is so present on the screen due to the delay betwen the shoots and the releases. Jounalists mainly repeat his departure date and announce that they have no news from the artist, first in March 1926, then May, until January 1927 with this small article:
"Repeatedly, letters reach us, asking news about Charles de Rochefort, who left France and gives no sign of life. Charles de Rochefort is in America, and his current contract in New York is not cinema related. He now lives his private life, and we shall not climb his wall to pry..."
Only on January 21, do we learn that the star is back in Paris, that he hasn't made another film, is on the stage and comes "to see my tailor". One can imagine the disapointment of fans of this film star that does not make films anymore and that plans to leave again on February 6, because more contracts call him to the USA. He does give an inteview on January 28, about his change of career : "they wanted to make me a villain, and offered me good money for it. I wanted to see if the commercial value I was given in America still had the same strenght. Hence my vaudeville act..."

Eventually, the new voyage takes place from February 9 to 16, 1927 and the actor leaves his Paris apartment once more. At that time, he is still married. Unlike the previous year where he had declared the Lasky studios as his work place for customs, he now lives in New York City at 67 Bedford street. He intends to stay 2 years, although he does not wish to become a citizen. As he performs his 16 week vaudeville contract, he gradually disappears from the French press.

On May 27, though, he signs an article for Comoedia magazine about French expatriates in Hollywood. He talks of Ginette Maddie, Arlette Marchal, André Chéron "the son of the Bouillons Duval (...) who, thanks to a superb beard, plays 'French' here and there." He also mentions hiring Marcel Ketterer, "brother of Georges Ketterer who brought The cabinet of Dr. Caligari in France, and has just spent three years in Hollywood to perfect his technique (...) because in my act, there is a combination of live and filmed performance and he takes care of it."

On June 15, 1928, Charles goes back to France accompanied by Pola Negri. Coincidentally, Le Roi de la camargue is presented then to be re-released. "It must look pretty old" Charles comments before he sees it again which softens his judgment. The success of talkies, if it hasn't yet reached France, is no secret in the United States. Once more, the actor is not back home to shoot a film, but to spend a vacation in France, Luxemburg and Belgium.

He travels back to NYC from September 5 to 11, 1928 on the liner Paris only this time, he declares that he intends to stay "forever", because after a new gig in Canada, he plans to go back to Hollywood. It seems that the project falls flat, since he is still in vaudeville in New York by June 1929.

Ruined American Actor, Successful French Talky Director

However, Charles loses 21 million francs in the 1929 crisis. He borrows money on real estate he wisely bought upon his arrival in the country, and manages to pay for his return to Paris. He is payed FF80,000 of royalties for La Princesse au clown. Thanks to Robert Kane that he met in America, he is hired by the French branch of Paramount to direct talkies in the studio des réservoirs at Saint-Maurice, which has just been equiped for this new technique.

On May 1930, he directs Une femme a menti with Paul Capellani, Alice Tissot, Louise Lagrange, Simone Cerdan, Jeanne Helbling and two young debutantes: Josselyne Gaël and Odette Joyeux. The film comes out on July 4, at the Paramount theater and meets with success.

Une femme a menti. From left to write: Louise Lagrange, Simone Cerdan, Alice Tissot, Jeanne Helbling, Jocelyne Gael, Charles de Rochefort, Paul Capellani, Jean Forest, Georges Mauloy and Louis-Jacques Boucot

Another crew shoots the German version of the same film, Seine Freundin Annette, and a Swedish version, Vi två, an Italian one, Perché no?, and a Spanish one Doña mentiras. The model for all these versions is of course the American one, The Lady Lies, the only one directed in New York.

On set of Le Secret du Docteur at Joinville with Marcelle Chantal

In spite of problems linked with sound films, Charles directs the film in only 15 days for only a million, a budget that is recouped in the first week of its release. He then segues to the French version of The doctor's secret [Le secret du docteur] with Max Maxudian and Marcelle Chantal in June 1930 from the play by Sir James Barrie. This fim contains a tour de force: a 5 minute forty five second scene of dialogue shot in one continuous take when Maxudian breaks Marcelle Chantal the news about the man she loves. The film is released on September 26, septembre exclusively at the Paramount theater.

Saint-Granier, Marguerote Moreno and Charles on the set of Paramount en Parade

From that point on, Charles specializes in directing European adaptations of American movies. For the French version of the musical Paramount on Parade, a gathering of American stars and vaudeville acts as was trendy at the beginning of the talkies, he mainly shoots additional scenes and presentations with French actors in July 1930 that were spliced together with the American sequences. He also takes care of the Spanish, German, Italian, Czech, Serbian and Romanian versions as well, even though he does not speak all these languages, with about 3 days shoot per version.

A confusion in the contracts makes it all the more difficult as Romanian actors arrive on set when Charles is shooting the Serbian version. His solution is to have the Romanians work at night, causing sleepless nights for him.

He also directs the short Une histoire de cirque [A Circus Story] where Charles introduces the duo of clowns Antonet and Beby.

He also does Dorville's first film: Dorville chauffeur that he shoots in November 1930 and Alexandre Dréan's debut in Soirée dansante.

He also does the European adaptation of Television.

Back in front of the Camera

In spite of a nice job and a comfortable salary, Charles realizes that his disappearance from the screen makes his personality as an artist less valuable and he plans a comeback. He does appear in the French scenes of Paramount en Parade that he shot himself, as a sailor, but he hasn't played a real part in years.

His contract with Paramount keeps him a director until late 1930 but does allow him to appear in front of the camera. An adaptation of Sherlock Holmes is planned but the studio fails to obtain the rights. Jean Renoir offers him the part of Inspector Maigret in Le chien jaune [The Yellow Dog], but Charles considers the salary to be too small. Fates are against his incarnating a famous detective.

He asks to be released from his Paramount contract to travel to Algeria and star in André Hugon's La croix du sud, a Pathé Natan production. The crew leaves March 10, 1931 for the Hoggar mountains to shoot exterior scenes with direct sound, a rare fact noted by the press.

With Kaissa Roba in La croix du sud

He remembers the wife of Charles Spaak (Claude Marcy?) as part of the cast but she has to quit because of the sting of a scorpion. Kaïssa-Robba has a car accident which scars her face. The many problems met by the cast and crew are reported in various articles: non passable roads, breakdows, sandstorms, etc. The shoot ends in late August, and Charles, although he does a few shows, loses all of his money in an Alger Casino.

Back in Paris, he directs two 800 m movies, Un bouquet de flirts in September and Trois cœurs qui s'enflamment in November for an independant company in which the young Josette Dagory appears for the first time. He renames her Josette Day and she later starred in Beauty and the Beast. In the meantime, in October, he also directs bridges for the French adaptation of the German film Douamont - Die Hölle von Verdun for Black Cat Film. The two movies are presented together and meet with a cold reception.

Charles goes back to vaudeville for two months at the théâtre des capucines which also shows La croix du sud from May 13, 1932. The critic of the Figaro is not tender with the film. Comoedia finds it lacks rythm, and that it is plagued by bad editing and poor acting from Suzanne Christy.

Charles diversifies and supervises subtitles of foreign films for that same theater. At the time, that meant replacing a few frames by a shot of the dialogue when people speak on-screen just like for a silent movie, laser titling being a thing of the future. He also still does vaudeville and spends the summer season at the Casino in Deauville.

Theater

The actor then turns his interest towards the theater. In 1936, he buys the Albert I theater and changes its name for his own. He directs several plays such as Allô police-secours (that he wrotes himself under a nom de plume) From November 25, 1936, L'étrange croisière, and Frénésie. But in 1939, he is drafted and his then-wife Mary Grant takes the management of the theater.
Heroic fighter of a defeated nation, he spends the occupation writing his memoires with Pierre Andrieu that he publishes in 1943 under the title "Secrets de vedettes. Le film de souvenirs de Charles de Rochefort"[Secrets of a Star. The Film of the Memories of Charles de Rochefort].

 After the war, he goes back to directing and acting with his wife Mary Grant on June 26, 1941 in Désarroi by André Birabeau, then on October 3, 1941 with Taïna ou l'extraordinaire famille Dupont where a wahine undresses on stage, on December 5, Tyrannie, then in 1942 La corrida by Léon Ruth, La tornade by Pierre Maudru, L'emprise by Jean d'Aubignière on September 10, 1943, etc.

His daughter Éliane marries an American lawyer, Edward R Moran, on September 14, 1946 in Ohio.

Charles keeps directing and acting in his theater until his death, on January 31, 1952.
His widow keeps the theater running until 1973 when Dominique Nohain becomes manager of the theater that he will later rename (and not as soon as 1973 as 1974 posters prove unlike what the theater's website states) "Théâtre Tristan-Bernard", thereby erasing the actor's name from collective memory.

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