Louis Verneuil

Louis Jacques Marie Collin du Bocage (14 May 1893 – 3 November 1952), better known by the pen name Louis Verneuil, was a French playwright, screenwriter, and actor. Born in Paris, Verneuil wrote approximately sixty plays and was best known for comedy. Many of his works were produced on Broadway including Monsieur Lamberthier, adapted into Jealousy (1928) starring John Halliday and Fay Bainter, and subsequently adapted again in 1946 as Obsession with Eugenie Leontovich and Basil Rathbone; and Affairs of State (1950) which starred Celeste Holm and Harry Bannister. Affairs of State ran for 610 performances at the Music Box Theatre and was the first work Verneuil wrote in English. His screenwriting credits include Avec Le Sourire (With a Smile) (1936) which starred Maurice Chevalier, and Cosas de mujer (Feminine Wiles) (1951). The Bette Davis film Deception (1946) was a third adaptation of his Monsieur Lamberthier. Verneuil was once married to Lysiane Bernhardt, the granddaughter of Sarah Bernhardt. Verneuil committed suicide at the age of 59 by slashing his throat. Police found his body in a bathtub. Verneuil is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.