William Marshall

William Marshall was born on October 12, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois, USA as Gerard William Marshall.

Convinced second wife Micheline Presle to follow him to Hollywood in the late 1940s, promising her that he would do everything possible to help her career. Against her better judgment, she broke a great contract she had in France with producer Paul Graetz (which had always given her carte blanche when it came to choosing her advisers and collaborators) to sign an unfruitful, six-year contract with 20th Century-Fox that, eventually, didn't allow her any say on her Hollywood projects. She later related that she did not like any of the roles she played in American films.

After divorcing Michèle Morgan, he married Micheline Presle. He first met her while he and Morgan were staying at the Savoy Hotel in London for the shooting of The Fallen Idol (1948) (starring Michèle). One day the married couple ran into Micheline, who was staying at the hotel before a travel to the US. Michèle, who was Micheline's friend, immediately introduced her to Marshall. Years later she recalled with irony how, after the encounter, she had mentioned to William how gorgeous Micheline looked, something "he had already noticed".

His relationship with second wife Micheline Presle secretly began when he was still married to Michèle Morgan. At around the same time, Michèle was having extra-conjugal visits with her Fabiola (1949) co-star Henri Vidal (whom she later married) and Marshall decided to take advantage of it to gain custody of son Mike Marshall. He hired some private detectives to follow Michèle and eventually managed to have her photographed in bed with Vidal. Since her extra-conjugal activities were proved while William's weren't, Mike was consequently given to his father, spending his whole adolescence with him. For a few of his childhood years he was raised along with his half-sister and future director, Tonie Marshall (William and Micheline's daughter).

Appeared in French films with then-wife Micheline Presle in the 1950s. He also directed her in Adventures of Captain Fabian (1951) opposite Errol Flynn.

He didn't get along with star Errol Flynn while directing him in his adventure movie, Adventures of Captain Fabian (1951). Near the end of the shooting, Flynn had grown so fed up with Marshall's tyrannical ways that he left the set for good and had to be replaced by a stunt double in the final scenes. The film was a critical and commercial disaster.

He was an actor, known for The Phantom Planet (1961), State Fair (1945) and Blackmail (1947). He was married to Corinne Aboyneau, Ginger Rogers, Micheline Presle and Michèle Morgan.

A fictionalized version of him (Jean Yanne's despicable Julius Mandenne) appears in daughter Tonie Marshall's Bastard Brood (1996). The film follows four different sons that Julius had with different women as they find out about his existence (when he's put on trial for murder) and try to connect with him. The character is nicknamed "The American" and his half-American daughter Susan (played by Molly Ringwald) works as a cinematic counterpart to William and Michèle Morgan's son, Mike Marshall. Julius' daughter Sophie (Nathalie Baye) is a fictionalized version of Tonie, whose real-life mother Micheline Presle fittingly appears in the film as Sophie's mother (on the other hand, a photo of Gena Rowlands--and not Morgan--is used for Susan's mother).