Born in southern France, Marcel Pagnol was the son of a seamstress and a school teacher. He was raised in the area known as Marseille, France. Marcel began reading at a very young age but his mother discouraged it due to her belief that if her son read too much he would experience a "cerebral explosion" so she didn’t support his love of reading.

The Pagnol family spent their summers in La Treille. It was a village near Aubagne. When he was fifteen years old, Marcel Pagnol wrote his first play and decided to teach in secondary schools. When he later moved to Paris, Pagnol realized he had another calling and he stopped teaching in lieu of larger dreams.

Marcel Pagnol’s first play Merchants of Glory was performed in 1924. He later wrote Marius for the Paris Theatre which would become his film debut as well.

Marcel’s personal life including a first marriage to Simone Coline in 1916 and a second marriage to Jacqueline Bouvier in 1945. His lifetime achievements in the film industry as well as a playwright of substantial notoriety, cast a shadow over the personal aspects of his life.

Marcel Pagnol’s literary works were claims to fame in their own right. His 1928 play Topaze put Pagnol in the limelight followed by the trilogy that began with Marius followed by Fanny and Csar.

Pagnol became a member of Acad mie Francaise in 1946 which was a tremendous honor because Marcel Pagnol was the first filmmaker to receive the status. He died in 1974 in Paris leaving behind a trail of novels and films to be captured and stored forever in literary history.