First Major Screen Credit: Les Amours De Minuit (1930)
Biography
Older brother of director Yves Allegret; Allegret's first film was the 1927 documentary Voyage Au Congo, about the trip to Africa undertaken by his uncle, the author Andre Gide. He went on to assist directors Robert Florey and Augusto Genina, and in 1931 completed Le Blanc Et Le Noi for Florey and co-directed Les Amants De Minuit with Genina. That same year he made his solo directing debut, lauching a 40-year career that includes such notable films as the Josephine Baker musical Zou-Zou, the documentary Avec Andre Gide, and the D.H. Lawrence adaptation Lady Chatterly's Lover. ~ All Movie Guide
Born in Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland, he was the elder brother of Yves Allégret. Marc was educated to be a lawyer. Allégret became André Gide's lover when he was fifteen and Gide was forty-seven. Later, Marc was to fall briefly under the spell of Cocteau, who Gide feared would "corrupt" him.
Marc's father, Elie Allégret, had originally been hired by Gide's mother to tutor her son in light of his weak grades in school, after which he and his charge became fast friends. In 1895 Elie was best man at Gide's wedding.
After filming a 1927 trip to the Congo with Gide, he chose to pursue a career in the motion picture industry. His relationship with Gide ended after that trip, as Allégret found out that he preferred women after experiencing Congolese women. They nevertheless remained close friends until Gide's death in 1951. After working and training as an assistant director, in 1931 he directed his first feature Mam'zelle Nitouche and the following year received much acclaim for his film, Fanny. He went on to a long career during which he wrote numerous scripts and directed more than fifty films.