Romain Gary

Born Romain Kacew in Vilnius, Lithuania. His father was Russian and his mother was French. At age fourteen, he and his mother moved to Nice, France. He later studied law in Aix-en-Provence and later in Paris. He learned to pilot an aircraft in the French Air Force in Salon-de-Provence[?] and in Avord[?], near Bourges . Following the Nazi occupation of France in World War II, a Jew, he fled to England and under Charles de Gaulle served with the Free French Forces in Europe and North Africa.

After the war, he worked in the French diplomatic service and in 1945 published his first novel. He would become one of France's most popular and prolific writers, authoring more than thirty novels, essays and recollections some of which he wrote under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar. He also wrote one novel under the pseudonym of Fosco Sinibaldi.

He is the only person to win the Prix Goncourt twice. This prize in French language literature can only be attributed once to a given author. Romain Gary, who had already received the prize in 1956, published La vie devant soi[?] under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar. The Academie Goncourt decided to give the prize to the author of this book, although they claimed not to know who the real author was. A period of literary mystery followed. Gary's cousin Paul Pavlowitch posed as the author for a while. Romain Gary later revealed the truth in his posthumous book Vie et mort d'Emile Ajar[?].

Romain Gary's first wife was the British writer, journalist, and Vogue[?] editor Lesley Blanch[?] (author of The Wilder Shores of Love). They were married in 1944 and divorced in 1961. From 1962 to 1970, Gary was married to the American actress Jean Seberg, with whom he had a son, Alexandre Diego Gary.

He also co-wrote the screenplay for the motion picture, The Longest Day and directed the 1972 film "Kill!" that starred his ex-wife, Jean Seberg.

Suffering from depression after the 1979 suicide of his former wife, Jean Seberg, Romain Gary died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on December 2, 1980 in Paris, France.

His books include:

As Romain Gary:

• Education européenne[?] (1945)
• Tulipe[?] (1946)
• Le grand vestiaire[?] (1949)
• Les couleurs du jour[?] (1952)
• Les racines du ciel[?] - 1956 Prix Goncourt
• La promesse de l'aube[?] (1960)
• Johnie Coeur[?] (1961)
• Gloire à nos illustres pionniers[?] (1962), (short stories)
• Lady L.[?] (1963)
• The ski bum[?] (1965)
• Pour Sganarelle[?] (1965)
• La comédie américaine[?] (1966)
• La danse de Gengis Cohn[?] (1967)
• La tête coupable[?] (1968)
• Adieu Gary Cooper[?]
• Chien blanc[?] (1970)
• Europa (1972)
• Les enchanteurs[?] (1973)
• La nuit sera calme[?] (1974, interview)
• Au-delà de cette limite votre ticket n'est plus valable[?] (1975)
• Clair de femme[?] (1977)
• Charge d'âme[?] (1977)
• Les têtes de Stéphanie[?] (1977)
• La bonne moitié[?] (1979)
• Les clowns lyriques[?] (1979)
• Les cerfs volants[?] (1980)
• Vie et mort d'Emile Ajar[?] (1981, posthumous)

As Emile Ajar:

• Gros calin[?] (1974)
• La vie devant soi[?] - 1975 Prix Goncourt
• Pseudo[?] (1976)
• L'Angoisse du roi Salomon[?] (1979)

As Fosco Sinibaldi:

• L'homme à la colombe[?] (1984, posthumous)

Films, as director:

• Les oiseaux vont mourir au Pérou[?] (1968)
• Kill![?] (1972)