Henri Charrière (November 16, 1906 - July 29, 1973) was a convicted felon chiefly known as the author of Papillon, a memoir of his incarceration in a penal colony on French Guiana.
Charriere was born in Ardеche, France. In 1923, at the age of seventeen, he enlisted in the French Navy, and served for two years. After leaving the Navy, Charrière became a member of the Paris underworld, and got married to a French woman and had a daughter.
On 29 November 1933, Charrièee successfully escaped from the infirmary at Saint Laurent with two companions, Clousiot and Maturette, sailing along the coast via Trinidad and Curaçao to Riohacha, Colombia. They received help along the way from a group of lepers (also convicts) on Pigeon Island, a compassionate British family and many others. During this time, three additional escapees joined the trio on their journey to Colombia.
Charrière settled in Venezuela, becoming officially domiciled there from July 3, 1944. He was a resident there from 1945.
In 1952, he married a Venezuelan woman named Rita. He had children with her and opened a restaurant in Caracas.
He finally returned to France when he visited Paris in conjunction with the publication of his account of his experiences, Papillon, in 1969. The book sold over 1,000,000 copies in France, prompting a French minister to attribute “the moral decline of France” to mini-skirts and Papillon.
Papillon was first published in the United Kingdom in 1970, in a translation by the novelist Patrick O'Brian.
Charrière played the part of a jewel thief in a 1970 film called The Butterfly Affair.
He also wrote a sequel to Papillon, Banco, in which he describes his life subsequent to his release from prison.
In 1973, his book Papillon was made into a film Papillon directed by Franklin Schaffner, in which the actor Steve McQueen takes the role of “Papillon”. Dalton Trumbo was the screenwriter, and Charrière himself acted as consultant on location. An interview with Henri Charrière is included in the documentary, Magnificent Rebel, which describes the making of the film.
He died in Madrid, Spain, from throat cancer.