Did Gerard Philip influenced Nagita for Terry's character?

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On the excellent Facebook page Candy Candy ADN Anohito, I discovered that #keikonagita was a big fan of Gérard Philipe (with only one p), this immense post-war actor who capsized the hearts of all the women of that era. You have to imagine the success he had in the 50s. It was crazy! His incarnation in particular of "Fanfan la Tulipe" as a popular French hero earned him international fame, and in particular in Japan. (see photos a little further down)

He excelled in cinema, but also in theater. He will forever remain Don Rodrigue, the hero of Cid, the play by theater of the playwright Corneille (1606-1684). This mythical role will follow him to the grave since it is dressed in this costume that he will be buried, at the age of 36 following a devastating liver cancer. Struck down in full glory and in full youth, he became a mythical character, the romantic hero, whose aura would last for the following decades.

Gérard Philipe on the stage of the Avignon theater in his Le Cid costume.

<b>The popularity of Gérard Philipe in Japan

The famous film critic, Nagaharu Yodogawa said of Gérard Philipe that he was "the greatest idol of the history of cinema and that he was loved all over the world"

Gérard Philipe warmly welcomed in Japan

This photo is incredible. It dates from 1953. Visiting Japan, Gérard Philipe is welcomed by the greatest Japanese actors of the time. Ryo Ikebe is at left back and Sesshu Hayakawa is in the center.
Hideko Takamine is on the far right. Machiko Kyo is on the left in the first row and Isuzu Yamada is seated on the right.

Photos from an article published in a Japanese newspaper in 1955 on Gerard Philipe's visit (Heibon January 1955 issue). The actresses visibly delighted to meet him are: ① Kyoko Kagawa ② Mariko Okada ③ Kyoto Machiko ④ Michiyo Kogure

Keiko Nagita and Gérard Philipe

cover of the book “Memories do not sing”

In 1974, Keiko Nagita published a collection of poems entitled "Memories do not sing". It contains poems about her first love, about separation, poems dedicated to loved ones and about moments of pain and nostalgia. Among them, on page 50, is a very sad poem entitled "The Empty Season", which relates a particularly depressive state of the author, a feeling of irrecoverable emptiness to the point of thinking of dying... An emptiness like death of someone visibly very dear to his heart has left (perhaps her mother who died in 1971) and which is added to other bereavements, that of her favorite author as well as that of her favorite actor, Gérard Philipe.

Season of Void
by Keiko Nagita

Tomorrow
How will I be able to live tomorrow? I feel so empty.
I wonder if I can't just die
But
It must be painful to hang yourself
The sleeping pill must be bitter
It must be cold at the bottom of the lake
How will I be able to live tomorrow?
I will no longer eat bread with butter
I will only snack on carrots
I will become so skinny
That the wind will lift me to Africa.
What will I dream of tomorrow?
Even though I've completely lost my mind
The disc emits a screaming sound because it is so worn
Maybe I should just break it
My favorite author also passed away.
Gérard Philippe is no longer there either.
It's been a long time......

Why can we establish a link between Gérard Philippe and Terry?

- Gérard Philipe's movies were very popular in Japan. He also received a lot of mail from his Japanese admirers, generally from a wealthy and cultured intellectual background. I don't know if Nagita came from a wealthy background but it is certain that she loved literature and theater. Gérard Philipe has played many characters from classic literature. He was François, in “Le wheat en herbe”, this teenager who experiences a crazy passion with a married woman. He was Julien Sorel in “Le Rouge et Le Noir” by Stendhal, the Marquis Fabrice del Dongo in “La Chartreuse de Parma” (still by Stendhal). He often played characters in the grip of true passionate loves which ignited the female audience and to which Keiko Nagita should not be insensitive.

“I forget all things while looking at you, and I listen to music, beautiful French, or admire the beautiful landscapes” (Letter written in French by a Japanese admirer in 1951)

- In 1974, she published her collection of poems in which there is a reference to Gérard Philipe, the actor she adored, certainly for his great talent and the quality of his films, but also for his great and indisputable beauty. His early death (1959) broke her heart just like that of his millions of admirers, and fifteen years later, she paid tribute to him, thus proving that she had not forgotten him and how important he was to her . Later, in 1975, she began to write the story of Candy, and in particular the character of Terry, this character who, unlike the prince to whom Igarashi was so attached, comes entirely from her imagination. He is his creation. Besides, Terry has the same eye color as Gérard Philipe. During his trip to China, a Peking opera artist said of his eyes that there was "the blue of the Ming era"...



- Nagita has a great passion for the works of Shakespeare. Gérard Philipe planned to play Hamlet under the direction of Peter Brook, but death cut him short. She certainly thought of him when she gave Terry the role of Hamlet, thus giving him the artistic recognition of his peers...

Many thanks to Claudia for sharing with me the essential documents for this analysis.

Video

Here is Mylène Demongeot’s testimony when she discovered Gérard Philipe at the cinema for the first time. I can easily imagine Nagita experiencing the same feelings upon discovering it. Mylène Demongeot became an actress to meet him, Nagita became a writer and wrote him a poem...

note: you will notice that she describes in her testimony the color of GP's eyes and that they are the same color as Terry's....

"Finally, that's it! Darkness in the room. The curtain opens, the credits arrive, the music and... HIM!
The one through whom emotion arrives... I look at him, no, I devour him with my eyes. I'm shaking all over. I'm cold and yet I'm sweating. I hear my own short, jerky breathing - I squeeze my thighs together... It's crazy what's happening to me... I love him, I love him... I loves him like I've never loved anyone before. Upset, yes I am. I like everything, everything enchants me about him... His voice, his eyes, his mouth, his laugh, his hands, this softness, this vulnerability that I feel. He doesn't scare me, I dream. There, it's me that he takes in his arms, that he holds against him, he says to me very gently: "There you are, finally! I was waiting for you, I knew you were going to come..."
It is there in front of me, real, immense. I am certain that he only plays for me. Lips parted... Yes I love him, he's the man of my life... I love him, I want him...
I am twelve years old and like thousands of other young girls, I have just discovered Gérard Philipe in “The Devil in the Body”
....
Who would have thought that, just a few years later, when I had become a rising actress, I would find myself, in the Pathé studios on rue Francoeur, in Paris, one beautiful spring afternoon, in his arms, tightly pressed against him, his face a few centimeters from my face, his blue-gray eyes fixed on mine, doing tests for Jacques Becker who was preparing Montparnasse 19 and who wanted to hire me?... Tests which consisted of playing a very tender love scene! Yes, yes, I, little Demongeot, was in his arms, in the arms of my idol, pressed against him, I felt the slightly rough fabric of his jacket on my skin, I looked at him, I felt his hands on me, I breathed his scent, I was very close to his lips... The dream of my adolescence.
And he said to me very gently, a little seductively: “How nice it is to play with you!” It made me smile. He was still so handsome. Also magical..."