Romain Gary
French writer and diplomat (1914–1980)
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Key Takeaways
- Romain Gary (born Roman Leibovich Kacew ; 21 May [O.
- He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt twice (once under a pen name).
- Early life Gary was born Roman Leibovich Kacew (Yiddish: רומן קצב , romanized: Roman Katsev Russian: Рома́н Ле́йбович Ка́цев , romanized: Roman Leibovich Katsev ) in Vilnius (at that time in the Russian Empire).
- His mother, Mina Owczyńska (1879–1941), was a Polish-Jewish actress from Švenčionys (Svintsyán, Święciany) and his father was a businessman named Arje-Lejb Kacew (1883–1942) from Trakai (Troki), also a Lithuanian Jew.
- Gary later claimed that his actual biological father was the celebrated actor and film star Ivan Mosjoukine, with whom his actress mother had worked and to whom he bore a striking resemblance.
Romain Gary (born Roman Leibovich Kacew; 21 May [O.S. 8 May] 1914 – 2 December 1980), also known by the pen name Émile Ajar, was a Lithuanian-born French novelist, diplomat, film director, and military aviator. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt twice (once under a pen name). He is considered a major writer of French literature of the second half of the 20th century.
Early life
Gary was born Roman Leibovich Kacew (Yiddish: רומן קצב, romanized: Roman Katsev Russian: Рома́н Ле́йбович Ка́цев, romanized: Roman Leibovich Katsev) in Vilnius (at that time in the Russian Empire). In his books and interviews, he presented many different versions of his parents' origins, ancestry, occupation and his own childhood. His mother, Mina Owczyńska (1879–1941), was a Polish-Jewish actress from Švenčionys (Svintsyán, Święciany) and his father was a businessman named Arje-Lejb Kacew (1883–1942) from Trakai (Troki), also a Lithuanian Jew. The couple divorced in 1925 and Arieh-Leib remarried. Gary later claimed that his actual biological father was the celebrated actor and film star Ivan Mosjoukine, with whom his actress mother had worked and to whom he bore a striking resemblance. Mosjoukine appears in his memoir Promise at Dawn.
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