Maurice Druon (23 April 1918 â€" 14 April 2009) was a French novelist
and a member of the Académie française, of which he served as
"Perpetual Secretary" (chairman) between 1985 and 1999.Born in Paris,
France, Druon was the son of Russian-Jewish immigrant Lazare Kessel
(1899â€"1920) and was brought up at La Croix-Saint-Leufroy in Normandy
and educated at the lycée Michelet de Vanves. His father committed
suicide in 1920 and his mother remarried in 1926; Maurice subsequently
took the name of his adoptive father, the lawyer René Druon
(1874â€"1961).Born in Paris, France, Druon was the son of
Russian-Jewish immigrant Lazare Kessel (1899â€"1920) and was brought
up at La Croix-Saint-Leufroy in Normandy and educated at the lycée
Michelet de Vanves. His father committed suicide in 1920 and his
mother remarried in 1926; Maurice subsequently took the name of his
adoptive father, the lawyer René Druon (1874â€"1961).He was the
nephew of the writer Joseph Kessel, with whom he translated the Chant
des Partisans, a French Resistance anthem of World War II, with music
and words (in Russian) originally by Anna Marly. Druon was a member of
the Resistance and came to London in 1943 to participate in the BBC's
"Honneur et Patrie" programme.Druon began writing for literary
journals at the age of 18. In September 1939, having been called up
for military service, he wrote an article for Paris-Soir entitled
"J'ai vingt ans et je pars (I am twenty years old and I am leaving)".
Following the fall of France in 1940, he was demobilized and remained
in the unoccupied zone of France, and his first play, Mégarée, was
produced in Monte Carlo in February 1942. He left the same year to
join the forces of Charles de Gaulle. Druon became aide de camp to
General François d'Astier de La Vigerie. Maurice Druon Top Movies & Young Movies