Henri Charriere ("Papillon") was born in the south of France in 1906. In 1933, having been convicted of a murder of which he steadfastly insisted he was innocent, he was transported to the French penal colony of Guiana. In the course of the next twelve years he made nine escape attempts-the last from the dread Devil's Island-and was finally granted sanctuary in Venezuela in 1945. His first volume of autobiography, _Papillon_, published in France in 1969, has since been translatede into every major language and has been a phenomenal best seller all around the world. The motion picture version stars Steve McQueen (as Papillon) and Dustin Hoffman.
Henri Charriere died in Madrid July 29, 1973.