Henri Charrière (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ʁi ʃaʁjɛʁ]; 16 November 1906 – 29 July 1973) was a French criminal and writer. Convicted as a murderer by the French courts, he is known as the author of Papillon, a memoir of his incarceration in and escape from a penal colony in French Guiana. While Charrière claimed that Papillon was largely true, modern researchers believe that much of the book’s material came from other inmates, rather than Charrière himself. To his final days Charrière strenuously denied his murder conviction, however he freely admitted to having committed various other petty crimes prior to his incarceration.
November 16, 1906, Saint-Étienne-de-Lugdarès, France
Died
July 29, 1973, Madrid, Spain
Place Of Birth
Ardèche, France
Height
5' 8" (1.73 m)
Profession
Writer, Actor
Spouse
Georgette Fourel (m. 1931–1970)
Movies
Papillon, The Butterfly Affair
Star Sign
Scorpio
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Fact
1
One of the few prisoners to have ever escaped successfully from the French penal colony known as "Devil's Island" in French Guiana, South America.
2
After his book was published in 1969, two books were written in response. One showed that he was almost certainly guilty of the murder for which he was jailed, and the second suggested his book was not a true memoir and that he could not possibly have done everything he claimed during his imprisonment. In 2005 a 104-year-old man, who died in January 2007, claimed to have been the real Papillon.
3
Charrière insisted that he and his agent and publisher Robert Laffont fly first class to the US to negotiate the rights to Papillon. Despite the cost, Laffond had had his staff upgrade the tourist class tickets to humour the author. During the flight, Laffont struck up a conversation with the passenger sitting next to him. He happened to be an American movie executive returning from Europe. The executive told him his wife had just read Papillon and insisted he buy the rights to Papillon on behalf of Universal, but, he complained, he hadn't had enough time on his trip to look into it. 15 minutes later, Laffont introduced Charrière and the executive in the first-class bar. They discussed various deals, but parted without firm commitments. As they were stepping off, Charrière turned to Laffont and said "Tu vois, couillon, c'est pas en touriste que tu l'aurais rencontré" - "You see, you fool, you wouldn't have met him travelling in tourist class".
4
Robert Laffont, who published Papillon, insists the book was not ghostwritten, but entirely written by Charrière.
5
Papillon (1973) is based on his book "Papillon", which is his self-biography.
$100,000
