DANINOS, Pierre 1913-2005

OBITUARY NOTICE— See index for CA sketch: Born May 26, 1913, in Paris, France; died January 7, 2005, in Paris, France. Journalist and author. Daninos is best remembered as the creator of the fictional English character Major W. Marmaduke Thompson, who was featured in a string of bestselling humorous novels. After attending the lycée Janson-de-Sailly in Paris, he became a journalist, specializing in sport and the lighter side of news. He contributed to such publications as Vendredi, Paris-Soir and Match before entering the French Army in 1939. Here he served as a liaison officer to British forces, becoming acquainted with a certain English officer who would serve as the model for his Thompson character. Fleeing to Brazil in 1940 when the French government bowed to the invading Germans, he published his first novel, Le sang des hommes (1941) while in exile. When the war ended, he returned to France and was hired by France Soir to be its feature editor. Beginning in 1951, he also worked as chronicler for Le Figaro. Daninos published several more novels in the 1940s and early 1950s before releasing Les carnets du Major W. Marmaduke Thompson (1954), which was translated the next year as The Notebooks of Major Thompson. The author's witty tale about a very proper and refined retired English major living in France, where he makes comical yet insightful observations about the natives, was an instant smash. This success inspired several sequels, such as Le major tricolore (1968; translated in 1971 as Major Thompson Goes French), Les nouveaux carnets du Major Marmaduke Thompson (1973), and Les derniers carnets de Major Thompson (2000). A movie adaptation, The French They Are a Funny Race (1956), was an uninspired interpretation of the popular novels. The winner of such French awards as the Prix Interallie for Le carnet du bon dieu (1947) and the Prix Courteline for Sonia, les autres et moi (1952), Daninos wrote many books on topics other than Thompson. Many of these were humorous in nature, though the autobiographical Le trente-sixieme dessous (1966) takes a somewhat dark look at the author's inner psyche. His Un certain Monsieur Blot (1960) was similar in some ways to the "Thompson" books, but instead focusing on an uptight businessman. Some of his other books include Les touristocrates (1974), Le veuf joyeux (1981), Profession, ecrivain (1988), and Belle-mere en exclusivite (1996).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Guardian (London, England), January 13, 2005, p. 29.

Independent (London, England), January 11, 2005, p. 34.

Times (London, England), January 15, 2005, p. 71.