However, he has not forgotten the jails of Saint-Laurent-de-Maroni, the violent behavior of the prison guards, 'and especially the mosquitoes.' There he became acquainted with Henri Charrière, who became famous under the name of Papillon, the title of his autobiographical bestseller of 1969.īut Charles Brunier, his old companion from prison, claims and has always claimed that all Charrière did was take Brunier's own story as his inspiration for the book. He does not remember the minister's grandfather. 'Perhaps he knew him,' says Léon Bertrand.Ĭharles Brunier was behind bars for fifteen years in the Cayenne prison, which closed its doors in 1953 after having taken in almost 70,000 prisoners in a hundred years.

The minister wanted to bring up the memory of his grandfather, Bertrand Lucien, who was a convict in the prison of Cayenne in French Guyana. Yesterday, Léon Bertrand, the Minister of Tourism, came to see him. He affirms that he is the man who inspired Henri Charrière, author of the celebrated Papillon, who, he says, stole his identity. Solitary, the old man of 104 has no more family and never receives any visitors. This ex-con has been in peaceful retirement here for the past 12 years. His hands gripping his wheelchair, Charles Brunier does not really understand why he is dressed up to come out of his room, yesterday morning, at the nursing home Orpa-Val-de-France in Domont (Val-d'Oise). The former convict who says he was Papillon I was a fan of the book, genre Escape From Devil's Island, so here goes! A real-life story that is like one from the movies. Today there was an article in Le Parisien (my favorite newspaper!) about an old man who claims to be the real Papillon, inspiring the movie with Steve McQueen.

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