He worked in a variety of professions such as barman, docker, flight attendant, interpreter, and journalist.
He wrote numerous thrillers, some under pseudonyms such as "H. L. Dugall" and "Michaël Borgia", the latter used with Pierre Rey.
He won several prizes for his work: Daddy was translated into English by J. Maxwell Brownjohn.
[2] It was made into a bande dessinee illustrated by Rene Follet, and a movie in 2003, featuring Klaus Maria Brandauer.
Durand also wrote scripts, e.g. for the Alain Delon thriller Dancing Machine and for the 1982 TV series The Tiger Brigades.