FILM DIRECTOR

Georges Méliès

1861 - 1938

Photo of Georges Méliès

Icon of person Georges Méliès

Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès (; French: [meljɛs]; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French magician, actor, and film director. He led many technical and narrative developments in the early days of cinema, primarily in the fantasy and science fiction genres. Méliès rose to prominence creating "trick films" and became well known for his innovative use of special effects, popularizing such techniques as substitution splices, multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted colour. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Georges Méliès has received more than 3,167,892 page views. His biography is available in 72 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 65 in 2019). Georges Méliès is the 26th most popular film director (down from 22nd in 2019), the 254th most popular biography from France (down from 207th in 2019) and the 4th most popular French Film Director.

Georges Méliès is most famous for being the first person to use special effects in movies, like stop motion and time-lapse photography.

Memorability Metrics

  • 3.2M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 72.52

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 72

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 9.34

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.61

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among FILM DIRECTORS

Among film directors, Georges Méliès ranks 26 out of 2,041. Before him are Sergio Leone, Jean-Luc Godard, Pedro Almodóvar, Francis Ford Coppola, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Agnès Varda. After him are Michelangelo Antonioni, George Lucas, Miloš Forman, Konstantin Stanislavski, Fritz Lang, and Roger Vadim.

Most Popular Film Directors in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1861, Georges Méliès ranks 6. Before him are Rabindranath Tagore, Mehmed VI, Rudolf Steiner, Fridtjof Nansen, and Lou Andreas-Salomé. After him are Charles Édouard Guillaume, Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, Victor Horta, Erich von Falkenhayn, Georgy Lvov, and Alfred North Whitehead. Among people deceased in 1938, Georges Méliès ranks 4. Before him are Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Edmund Husserl, and Karel Čapek. After him are Charles Édouard Guillaume, Konstantin Stanislavski, Nikolai Bukharin, Kanō Jigorō, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Béla Kun, and Faustina Kowalska.

Others Born in 1861

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Others Deceased in 1938

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In France

Among people born in France, Georges Méliès ranks 254 out of 6,770. Before him are Pope Callixtus II (1065), Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot (1796), Honoré Daumier (1808), Philip III of France (1245), Ferdinand Foch (1851), and Pope Leo IX (1002). After him are Serge Gainsbourg (1928), Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour (1810), Michel Platini (1955), Rudolf Diesel (1858), Stéphane Mallarmé (1842), and Pope Innocent V (1225).

Others born in France

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Among FILM DIRECTORS In France

Among film directors born in France, Georges Méliès ranks 4. Before him are Roman Polanski (1933), François Truffaut (1932), and Jean-Luc Godard (1930). After him are Roger Vadim (1928), Luc Besson (1959), Jacques Tati (1907), Claude Chabrol (1930), Éric Rohmer (1920), Jean-Jacques Annaud (1943), Alain Resnais (1922), and William Wyler (1902).

French born Film Directors

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Filmography

A Trip to the Moon
Director
Professor Barbenfouillis and five of his colleagues from the Academy of Astronomy travel to the Moon aboard a rocket propelled by a giant cannon. Once on the lunar surface, the bold explorers face the many perils hidden in the caves of the mysterious planet.
Apr 17o 19027.929 / 10
The Astronomer's Dream
Director
An astronomer has a terrifying dream.
Jan 1o 18986.875 / 10
The Haunted Castle
Director
In a medieval castle, a dark magician thought to be Mephistopheles conjures up a series of bizarre creatures and events in order to torment a pair of interloping cavaliers.
Dec 24o 18966.475 / 10