No free photograph

Romain Gary

French writer and diplomat (1914-1980) · France · Writers · Died at 66 · also Russia

Romain Gary is read about 1,784 times a day, in 51 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 390 days, one point a day.

Something wrong?

Compare

He won France's highest literary prize twice - the second time under a pseudonym so convincing the judges never knew they'd crowned the same man again.

Writers Actor Television Screenwriting Fiction Literature Film Directing France

A life in dates

1980Died2 December 19801976“During the war he was an airman and slaughtered civilians from on high.”In their wordsPseudo (1976)Read the whole statement

1974“Gari in Russian means "burn!"… I want to test myself, a trial by fire, so that my I is burned off.”In their wordsLa Nuit Sera Calme [The Night Will Be Calm] (1974)Read the whole statement

1970“There is more to Jewish history than Auschwitz.”In their wordsInterview (1970), republished in Le Judaïsme n’est pas une Question de Sang [Judaism Isn’t About Blood] (2008) by Les éditions de l’Herne,Read the whole statement

1967“A writer’s subconscious is one of the filthiest places there are: as a matter of fact, you can find the whole world there.”In their wordsThe Dance of Genghis Cohn (1967)Read the whole statement

1956Prix GoncourtAward1946“When a war is won, it's the losers, not the winners, who are liberated.”In their wordsTulipe (1946)Read the whole statement

1944Companion of the LiberationAward1940“The bombs I dropped on Germany between 1940 and 1944 maybe killed a Rilke or a Goethe or a Hölderin in his cradle.”In their wordsAs quoted in Hope and Memory: Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2003) by Tzvetan Todorov, p. 217Read the whole statement

1914Born21 May 1914

Also in Deutsch

Photos 6

2016-03-19 - Plaque Romain Gary 01

2016-03-19 - Plaque Romain Gary 02

Plaque Romain Gary, 108 rue du Bac, Paris 7

Romain Gary - books in Bulgarian

Romain GARY 98A-11-81 1971 page-0001

RomainGaryVilnius

In their own words 7

Romain Gary

7 statements, newest first

During the war he was an airman and slaughtered civilians from on high.
1976, Pseudo (1976), Own words
Gari in Russian means "burn!"… I want to test myself, a trial by fire, so that my I is burned off.
1974, La Nuit Sera Calme [The Night Will Be Calm] (1974), Own words
There is more to Jewish history than Auschwitz.
1970, Interview (1970), republished in Le Judaïsme n’est pas une Question de Sang [Judaism Isn’t About Blood] (2008) by Les éditions de l’Herne,, Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

Prix Goncourt1956

Companion of the Liberation1944

Commander of the Legion of Honour

Insignia for the Military Wounded

Croix de guerre 1939-1945

Resistance Medal

Colonial Medal

Order of Liberation

Family

Parents

Romain Gary

Partners

Child Alexandre Diego Gary

Brothers and sisters

Is this everyone?

Only relatives with a profile here are drawn, so a family can be larger than this. A line here can also be wrong.

Correct this family

About this person

Born Roman Leibovich Kacew in Lithuania on 21 May 1914, he became Romain Gary in France and built a life that spanned diplomacy, military aviation, film directing, and fiction. His novels earned him the Prix Goncourt in his own name, then again decades later as Émile Ajar - a separate identity he guarded so well that no one suspected the double victory until after his death on 2 December 1980. The stunt wasn't just ego: it was a proof that a writer could escape his own shadow, win on new terms, and leave the literary establishment looking at a mirror it didn't recognize.

Country

France

In common with Romain

Jackson BrowneAlso in The Ski Bum (1971)

Peter UstinovAlso in Lady L (1965)

Romy SchneiderAlso in Womanlight (1979)

Simone SignoretAlso in Madame Rosa (1977)

Eddie AlbertAlso in The Roots of Heaven (1958)

Writers from France 1

Marjane Satrapi58.3

Fame.am measures public visibility signals. It does not measure human value, talent, morality, or credibility.