Georges Simenon
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Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (February 13, 1903 – September 4, 1989) was a Belgian crime writer. A prolific author who published nearly 200 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known for the creation of the fictional detective Maigret.
Simenon's works
Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre include nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed.
He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, appeared in 1931; the last one, Maigret et M. Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films.
During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)).
Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981).
In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.
In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.
Film adaptations
Simenon's work has been widely adapted to cinema and television. He is credited on at least 171 productions. Notable films include:
- Armchair Cinema: The Prison (Euston Films/Thames Television, 1974), adapted from 'La Prison'
- Night at the Crossroads (La Nuit du Carrefour, France, 1932), written and directed by Jean Renoir, starring Pierre Renoir as Maigret
- Strangers in the House (Les Inconnus dans la Maison, France, 1942), written by Henri-Georges Clouzot
- Panic (Panique, France, 1946), written and directed by Julien Duvivier
- Le voyageur de la Toussaint (France, 1943)
- Dernier Refuge (1947)
- The Man on the Eiffel Tower (US, 1950), directed by Burgess Meredith, starring Charles Laughton as Maigret
- La Marie du Port (France, 1950), directed by Marcel Carné
- The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By (UK, 1952), directed by Harold French
- The Bottom of the Bottle (United States, 1956), directed by Henry Hathaway
- Inspector Maigret (Maigret Tend un Piège, France, 1958), written and directed by Jean Delannoy, starring Jean Gabin as Maigret, Edgar Award for Best Foreign Film from the Mystery Writers of America in 1959
- The Stowaway (1958), directed by Lee Robinson adapted from Le Passager Clandestin
- Love Is My Profession (En Cas de Malheur, France, 1958), directed by Claude Autant-Lara
- Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case (Maigret et l'Affaire Saint-Fiacre, France, 1959), written and directed by Jean Delannoy, starring Jean Gabin as Maigret
- Passion of Slow Fire, also released as The End of Belle, adapted from Simenon's novel "La Mort de Belle" (see [1])
- L'Aîné des Ferchaux (France, 1963), written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
- Cop-Out (UK, 1967), written and directed by Pierre Rouve
- Le Chat, France, 1971), written and directed by Pierre Granier-Deferre
- The Widow Couderc (La Veuve Couderc, France, 1971), written and directed by Pierre Granier-Deferre
- The Clockmaker (L'Horloger de Saint-Paul, France, 1974), written and directed by Bertrand Tavernier
- The Hatter's Ghost (Les Fantômes du Chapelier, France, 1982), written and directed by Claude Chabrol
- L'Étoile du Nord (France, 1982), written and directed by Pierre Granier-Deferre
- Équateur (France, 1983), written and directed by Serge Gainsbourg
- Monsieur Hire (France, 1989), written and directed by Patrice Leconte
- Betty (France, 1992), written and directed by Claude Chabrol
- La Maison du canal (France and Belgium, 2003), directed by Alain Berliner
- Red Lights (France, 2004), directed by Cédric Kahn
- The Man from London (Hungary, 2007), written and directed by Béla Tarr