Gérard Philipe is a legendary French actor who was active in the cinema during the 1940s and '50s. Born Gérard Philip on December 4, 1922, in Cannes, France, he studied at the Conservatory of Dramatic Art in Paris during the early to mid-'40s. He began his professional career in the theater, performing in a series of plays throughout the early to mid-'40s, and began appearing in small film roles around the same time. Stardom came a few years later as a result of his role in the Claude Autant-Lara film Devil in the Flesh (1947). He appeared in numerous films throughout the 1950s, perhaps most notably Fanfan la Tulipe (1952), and remained active in the theater as well. He also made some commercial recordings during the 1950s; in particular, his narration of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's story Le Petit Prince, recorded in 1954, proved timeless and was reissued time and time again over the years. At the height of his stardom, a tragic fate befell Philipe, as he died rather suddenly of liver cancer on November 25, 1959. He was only 36 years old at the time of his death. ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi