During his career he performed with some of the most famous and glamorous leading ladies of the era including Jeanne Moreau, Michèle Morgan, Micheline Presle, Danielle Darrieux, Gina Lollobrigida and Anouk Aimée.

As well as a successful film career, he was also a highly regarded classical actor, later achieving further fame when he became a member of Jean Vilar's Théâtre national populaire where he performed in many of the greatest plays from the repertoire of French drama.

[2] In 1936, his father became a member of the Nationalist League of the Croix-de-Feu, later becoming enthusiastic about Jacques Doriot and his dream of national-socialism à la française, joined the French People's Party and became secretary of the federation of Cannes.

[3] In 1928, Gérard was, with his brother Jean, an intern at the Stanislas Institutei High School in Cannes run by the Marianists, where he was a good student.

He therefore auditioned Gérard, asking him to perform a scene from Étienne, a play by Jacques Deval where a 17-year-old son sees his vocation as an actor thwarted by his father.

Philipe had already enrolled in the faculty of law in Nice in 1942, but after meeting many refugee artists on the Côte d'Azur, then in the free zone since 1940, he finally made the decision to become an actor, with his mother supporting him in this endeavour.

It was whilst attending the Conservatory of Dramatic Art in Paris that Philipe made his debut in Nice at the age of 19 on 11 October 1943[4] in Paris at the Théâtre Hébertot in a production by Georges Douking.,[5] where he played Angel in Jean Giradoux’s 'Sodome et Gomorrhe' (1943) opposite Edwige Feuillère, this original production was a commercial success and ran for over two hundred performances.

In 1943, Philipe toured with the play Une Jeune Fille sais by André Haguet, which met with success in Paris.

In February 1943, Philipe had a Cannes doctor draw up a certificate confirming that he had suffered from pleurisy three years earlier and that his condition remained fragile: "65kg for 1.83m", which allowed him to be reformed.

From October he took lessons from Georges Le Roy “He taught me to stand up straight, with my knees outstretched, facing life, like a healthy man.

Philipe made his film debut in Les Petites du quai aux fleurs (1943), directed by Marc Allégret, in an uncredited role.

He had a minor role in Box of Dreams (1945) then was third billed in Land Without Stars (1946) after Jani Holt and Pierre Brasseur; George Lacombe wrote and directed.

[9] Philipe had a lead role in The Idiot (1946), an adaptation of the novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, co-starring Edwige Feuillère for director Georges Lampin.

Philipe gained fame as a result of his performance in Claude Autant-Lara's Devil in the Flesh (1947), alongside Micheline Presle.

He followed it with Such a Pretty Little Beach (1949) for Yves Allégret; All Roads Lead to Rome (1949), a reunion with Presle, for Jean Boyer; and Beauty and the Devil (1950) for René Clair.

She adopted the pseudonym, Anne Philipe, and wrote about her husband in two books, the first called Souvenirs (1960) and a second biography titled Le Temps d'un soupir (No Longer Than a Sigh, 1963).

Philipe played Valmont in Roger Vadim's modern day version of Les liaisons dangereuses (1959), appearing alongside Jeanne Moreau.

[18] Finally, in November, Gérard Philipe came to find Jean Vilar in his box at the Théâtre de l'Atelier, after a performance of Henri IV by Luigi Pirandello.

Tall, erect, with a rare gesture, a clear and frank gaze, his presence was made up of both calm strength and fragility.

[19] The premiere of Prince de Hombourg took place on 15 July at the Festival d'Avignon, in the main courtyard of the Palais des Papes On the 17th, Philipe was injured during the last dress rehearsal by falling 2.50 meters, fortunately cushioned by his thick suit 18 .

Léon Gischia believes that “Avignon will have been for Gérard a marriage of love with his public; this audience that Jean had prepared for him and who was only waiting for him.

Despite his career and his international fame, he reassured the new director that he is ready to receive a lower fee at the cinema so as not to jeopardise the troupe's budget.

[20] He was joint president of the French actors’ union, Federation Internationale des Acteurs, (along with Jean Darcante) at the time of his death.

He died from liver cancer, on 25 November 1959, at his home on the Rue de Tournon, Paris, a few days short of his 37th birthday.

His untimely death caused a deep outpouring of shock and emotion in France, due to his great popularity as an actor and French icon.

Jean Vilar paid him a final tribute on 28 November, on the stage of the Théâtre de Chaillot: “Death struck high.

In accordance with his last wishes, he was buried, dressed in the costume of Don Rodrigue (The Cid), in the village cemetery in Ramatuelle, Var, near the Mediterranean coast.

Here they found a haven of peace, away from hectic Parisian life, a place to receive their friends including Georges Perros, Agnès Varda, Claude Roy, René Clair).

There is also a film festival named in his honour as well as a number of theatres and schools (such as the College Gérard Philipe – Cogolin) in various parts of France.