Anecdotes

Best remembered for his portrayal of Count de Montray in Marcel Carné's masterpiece Les enfants du paradis (1945).

Accomplished stage actor. His theatrical career began when his friend Max Jacob introduced to him to Georges Pitoëff. Impressed by the young Salou's incandescent desire to do some stage work, Pitoëff took him in his prestigious company and personally directed him in 32 plays. During his career, Louis also collaborated with Jean Cocteau, Pierre Fresnay, Jean Meyer, Raymond Rouleau and Fred Pasquali.

He appeared in 4 movies with Paul Bernard: Voyage sans espoir (1943), Roger la Honte (1946), La revanche de Roger la Honte (1946) and Un ami viendra ce soir... (1946).

The circumstances of his death are obscure to this day: some sources state he died of a heart attack, others mention suicide by an overdose of sleeping pills.

His father was a Gendarme from Brittany who had later been relocated to Oissel (Louis' birthplace). His mother was from Vexin.

Friends with several important artists, including Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall and poet Max Jacob.

After his studies, he briefly worked at the PTT (Postal, telegraph and telephone service) as a telegraph operator.

He was also a poet, founding an avant-garde newspaper called 'Raison d'être' to print his own works. Several of his poems were later published in the 1949 'Poètes catholiques (Catholic Poets)' collection.

He appeared in 4 movies with María Casares: Les enfants du paradis (1945), Roger la Honte (1946), La revanche de Roger la Honte (1946) and La Chartreuse de Parme (1948).

Died in his Fontenay-aux-roses apartment. He was buried in Bagneux.

During the shooting of Les amants de Vérone (1949) (Salou's final film), actress Marianne Oswald had noted a melancholic, self-destructive side of Louis, stating that he looked like 'a big bird in front of a rifle'. He died before the movie was released, possibly by suicide.

He appeared in 3 movies with Madeleine Sologne: Le Loup des Malveneur (1943), Un ami viendra ce soir... (1946) and La foire aux chimères (1946).