From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Maurice Druon (Paris, April 23 1918 -) is a French novelist and member of Académie française.
He is the nephew of the writer Joseph Kessel, with whom he wrote Chant des partisans, which, with music composed by Anna Marly, was used by the French resistance during the Second World War.
December 8 1966 he was elected the 30th president of Académie française, succeeding George Duhamel.
He is best known not for the high-brow writing which earned him a seat at the Académie, but for the seven book medieval historical romance series he created in the 1960s under the title "Les Rois Maudits" (The Accursed Kings). The books were written in an easy to understand French of a rather basic level and the characters were drawn larger than life on a rather simple plot line. Historical facts were trampled with nonchalance to create thrills or a familiar 20th century nationalistic setting (which did not exist in medieval times) when the author felt it was needed.
In the 1970s a rather outstanding TV mini-series was made out of the "Rois maudits" plot and characters. Some of the best French actors of stage and screen were involved, and they delivered some fine performances with the crisp dialogue which was given them. While the sets were not as lavish as most Hollywood productions, they were finely done and artfully lighted. On the whole it was a nearly flawless production which became even more famous than the original books.
