Jacques Sernas

Jacques Sernas
Sernas in Terra straniera (Foreign Earth), Italy, 1954[1]
Native name	Lithuanian: Jokūbas Bernardas Šernas
Born	30 July 1925 Kaunas, Lithuania
Died	3 July 2015 (aged 89) Rome, Italy
Other names	Jack Sernas
Occupation	actor
Years active	1947–2008
Spouse(s)	Maria Stella Signorini (1955-?)[2]
Children	Francesca (b. 1956)
Parent(s)	Jokūbas Šernas

Jokūbas Bernardas Šernas (30 July 1925 – 3 July 2015), commonly known as Jacques Sernas and sometimes credited as Jack Sernas, was a Lithuanian-born French actor with an international film career.^[3]

Biography

Sernas with daughter Francesca in Rome, 1971.^[4]

He was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, the son of Jokūbas Šernas, a signatory of the 1918 Act of Independence of Lithuania, who died when Sernas was one year old. His mother took him to Paris, France, where Sernas received his formal education. During World War II, he joined the French Resistance and was captured and interned at the Nazi Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar, Germany. After the war, Sernas was considering a career in medicine and then in journalism before turning to films. His first role was in Miroir (1946).^[5]

In June 1955 Sernas married the Romanian journalist Maria Stella Signorini. They had a daughter Francesca born 1956.^[6]

Career

Sernas worked first as a leading man and later as a character actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Paris in the epic film Helen of Troy (1956).

Sernas also appeared on American television, including the lead role in the 1956 Warner Brothers time travel production "Man from 1997" featuring James Garner.

His more recent appearances have included appearing as a Cardinale Feltin in the television biographical film Pope John XXIII (2002) and as Ambasciatore in the television comedy film Regina dei fiori (2005). For the last 30 years Sernas lived and worked in Rome.^[5]

Partial filmography

Title	Year	Genre	Role	Notes
Lost Youth	1947	drama		Nastro d'Argento Best Actor
The Mill on the Po	1949	drama
The Wolf of the Sila	1949	Drama	Salvatore Barra
Pact with the Devil	1950	Drama
Golden Salamander	1950	adventure	Max
Fugitive in Trieste	1951	Historical	Giulio
L'ultima sentenza	1951	drama	Piero
The Mute of Portici	1952	drama		uncredited
Red Shirts	1952	Historical	Gentile
Lulu	1953	comedy	Mario
Dieci canzoni d'amore da salvare	1953	Drama	The songwriter
Maddalena	1954	drama	Giovanni Belloni
Jump into Hell	1955	adventure	Captain Guy Bertrand
Altair	1956	drama	De Montel
Helen of Troy	1956	epic	Paris
The Goddess of Love	1957		Laertes
Nel Segno di Roma	1958		Julianus
Lost Lives (Vite perdute)	1959		The Baron
The Loves of Salammbo	1960		Mathos
The Huns (La regina dei tartari)	1960		Malok
Maciste contro il vampiro	1961		Kurtick
Duel of Champions	1961		Marcus
The Centurion	1961	historical drama	Caius Vinicius
Romolo e Remo	1961		Curtius
Che femmina!! e... che dollari!	1961		Jefferson Thompson
The Slave	1962		Randus
55 Days at Peking	1963	epic	Maj. Bobrinski
Last Plane to Baalbek	1964		Nick Mann
The Dirty Game	1965	Spy film	Sernas
Balearic Caper	1966		Pierre
For a Few Extra Dollars	1966	Spaghetti western	Major Sanders
Midas Run	1969	Comedy	Paul Giroux
Hornets' Nest	1970	war	Major Taussig
Children of Rage	1975	war	Dr. Ben-Joseph
Pope John XXIII	2002	biographical	Cardinale Feltin	television film
Regina dei fiori	2005	comedy	Ambasciatore	television film

See also

• List of Lithuanian actors
• List of French actors

References

1. Portrait of Jacques Sernas. gettyimages.co.uk
2. https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=https://books.google.com/books%3Fid%3D8pevDl3NMUkC%26pg%3DPA177%26lpg%3DPA177%26dq%3DMaria%2BStella%2BSignorini%26source%3Dbl%26ots%3DD7zyGiEX64%26sig%3DfAg6BV5S20rP8py8NeCJN7WnUKM&prev=search
3. "Addio a Jacques Sernas, icona del cinema anni 50" (in Italian). La Repubblica. 3 July 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
4. Jacques Sernas with his daughter Francesca. gettyimages.co.uk
5. "Jacques Sernas". The New York Times
6. 'Cine Tele Review' May, 1993. torchieflash.com

External links

• Jacques Sernas at the Internet Movie Database