Charles-Marie Vanel, known as Charles Vanel (21 August 1892 in Rennes, France – 15 April 1989, in Cannes, France) was a French actor and director. He made his screen debut in 1912, in Robert Péguy's Jim Crow, and is perhaps best remembered for his role as a desperate truck driver in Clouzot's acclaimed The Wages of Fear, a film that won both the Golden Bear and Palme d'Or in 1953.

In Hitchcock's 1955 film, To Catch a Thief, he played a restaurateur who had served in the French Resistance with Cary Grant. Later in his career he would act alongside Jean-Paul Belmondo (Magnet of Doom) and Klaus Kinski (Golden Night).

In his 77-year career he appeared in more than 200 films.

Selected Filmography

• Queen Louise (1927–28)
• Wooden Crosses (1932)
• In the Name of the Law (1932)
• Le Grand Jeu (1934)
• Les Misérables (1934)
• The Green Domino (1935)
• La belle équipe (1936)
• S.O.S. Sahara (1938)
• Cristobal's Gold (1940)
• Le ciel est à vous (1944)
• The Wages of Fear (Le Salaire de la Peur, Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953)
• L'affaire Maurizius (1954)
• Les Diaboliques (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955)
• To Catch a Thief (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955)
• Le Feu aux poudres (fr) (1957)
• Rafles sur la ville (fr) (1957)
• The Truth (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960)
• Tintin and the Golden Fleece (Tintin et le mystère de la Toison d'or, Jean-Jacques Vierne, 1961)
• La steppa (1962)
• Rififi à Tokyo (fr) (1963)
• Symphonie pour un massacre (fr) (1963)
• Magnet of Doom (1963)
• Le Chant du monde (1965)
• Shock Troops (1967)
• Sébastien et la Mary-Morgane (1970, TV)
• Comptes à rebours (fr) (1971)
• Sept morts sur ordonnance (Jacques Rouffio, 1975)
• Golden Night (1976)
• Illustrious Corpses (1976)
• Comme un boomerang (fr) (1976)
• Alice ou la dernière fugue (1977)
• Three Brothers (1981)
• Si le soleil ne revenait pas (1987)