Armand Salacrou

He was born in Rouen, but spent most of his childhood at Le Havre, and moved to Paris in 1917. His first works show the influence of the Surrealists.

He was the owner of a profitable advertising firm, but sold it in order to devote his time to writing plays. Encouraged by Charles Dullin, he wrote in a wide range of styles and enjoyed great success from the mid-1930s. His later work is usually grouped with that of the Existentialists. He flirted with communism during the 1920s and criticized capitalism in his play Boulevard Durand. During the Nazi occupation of France, he participated in the clandestine French resistance, an experience which he celebrated in Les Nuits de la colère.

He was a member of the Académie Goncourt, and a library in his home town is named after him.

Source: Article "Armand Salacrou" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.