identity theft on Devil's Island

March 30, 2007 11:31 AM

The real Papillon? Charles Brunier, died two months ago, aged 104.
posted by nickyskye (15 comments total)

Do you have something other than a date on a Wikipedia link to follow this up?
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 11:39 AM on March 30, 2007

Whoa. I never considered that he might still be alive.
posted by OmieWise at 11:47 AM on March 30, 2007

That's an amazing story, thanks nickyskye!
posted by amyms at 11:48 AM on March 30, 2007

Funny Papillon-related anecdote: two years ago when there was that Referendum against Chavez in Venezuela there were a lot of rumors that a lot of dead people were "voting" and so the electoral records got "cleaned." One of the names found among the signatures they needed to collect in order to have the referendum was Henri Charriere's.
posted by micayetoca at 11:50 AM on March 30, 2007

Even on Devil's Island, all that wine and cheese protects your health.
posted by Fupped Duck at 11:50 AM on March 30, 2007

Silly. We all know Steve McQueen was the real Papillon.
posted by HyperBlue at 12:05 PM on March 30, 2007

joseph_elmhurst, you asked if there were something other than Wikipedia as back up. There is, in French: from ChezMartine (who says he was 106 years old) and from searching the French newspaper, LeParisien, for Brunier. However in both LeParisien's articles, they cannot decide if he were 105 or 106 years old:

Dated 29/01/2007: "Charles Brunier emporte avec lui le secret de Papillon- C'EST un homme à la destinée romanesque qui vient de mourir. Charles Brunier s'est éteint discrètement dans une clinique vendredi à l'âge de 106 ans. "

and

Dated 28/01/2007: "CHARLES BRUNIER s'est éteint avant-hier, à l'âge de 105 ans à la maison de retraite de Domont, où il séjournait depuis plusieurs années. Ancien bagnard, il emporte avec lui le mystère de Papillon, le plus célèbre des forçats de Cayenne, objet d'un best-seller en 1969 puis d'un film..."

And, HyperBlue, you're right, Steve McQueen was the real Papillon. But I still thought these two old fart felons (Henri Charrière and Chalres Brunier) had some great stories to tell.
posted by nickyskye at 12:34 PM on March 30, 2007

*Charles
posted by nickyskye at 12:35 PM on March 30, 2007

nickyskye, Merci bien.
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 12:39 PM on March 30, 2007

de rien :)
posted by nickyskye at 12:59 PM on March 30, 2007

Thanks for posting this.
posted by sleepy pete at 2:06 PM on March 30, 2007

Devils Island
posted by Xurando at 3:36 PM on March 30, 2007

It doesn't really matter if this guy is the "real" Papillon or not - it's a great yarn, regardless of how true it is.
posted by smeger at 9:48 PM on March 30, 2007

eh, I don't see any new information here that I didn't find after rereading the book a few months ago. I think we'd be more satisfied if we decided that the real Papillon is Steve McQueen, Henri Charriere, and Charles Brunier, and any of the other convicts thrown into the mix... oh, and let's not forget a guy in a NYT magazine article (would link, but must be subscriber-only now) who took only Papillon to prison in Florida before breaking out, only to be proven innocent some twelve or twenty years later... and all the others.

Here in India, the book continues to be present in almost every single English-language bookstore I've ever set foot in. Unrelated, but there are a hell of a lot of people stuffed into Tihar jail near Delhi--maybe a few of them are carrying an old paperback...
posted by goodglovin77 at 9:48 PM on March 30, 2007

Oh to be young again... no wait, I was on Devil's Island, fuck that.

Oh to be middled-aged again...
posted by dglynn at 11:39 PM on March 30, 2007