According to one obituary : For exactly 40 years , the prolific Verneuil made movies as mainstream and commercial as any to be found in America or Britain . In his best period – the 1950s and 1960s – he delivered films in the " tradition of quality " so despised by the Nouvelle Vague . Many of them proved excellent vehicles for old-timers Jean Gabin and Fernandel , and newcomers such as Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon . Verneuil was born Ashot Malakian ( ) to Armenian parents in Rodosto , East Thrace , Turkey . In 1924 , when Ashot was a little child his family fled to Marseille in France , to escape persecution after the Armenian Genocide . He later recounted his childhood experience in the novel '' Mayrig '' , which he dedicated to his mother and made into a 1991 film with the same name , which was followed by a sequel , 588 Rue Paradis , the following year
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Henri Verneuil