[1] Controversy surrounds Duchesne for activities during the German occupation of France during World War II.
"[2] According to a 2019 review of the Kino-released DVD of Bob le flambeur, a featurette on the disc informs that the actor's "gambling debts caught the attentions of the Nazis during the Occupation, and Duchesne became a collaborator, actively participating in the torture of at least one member of the French Resistance."
[3] Unable to work as an actor immediately after the war, Duchesne was reduced to writing trashy adventure novels and later, to actual crime.
[4] Film director Jean-Pierre Melville, ironically himself a Jewish member of the French Resistance during the war, recruited Duchesne for Bob le flambeur.
"Duchesne robbed a bank of 800 million francs—the same sum Bob tries to steal [in the film] in Deauville-—then cooled his heels in prison writing adventure novels.