Life After Prison
Papillon moved to Venezuela, where he tried to live as an honest man. At the time, Caracas, Venezuela was a popular city for European and American business people to stay in South America, so he had plenty of people to talk to, even while learning how to speak fluent Spanish. He got married, became a Venezuelan citizen, and wrote his book. He pumped gas, and also worked as a gold prospector. He eventually saved up enough money to open a nightclub.
He published his memoir in 1969, and it sold 700,000 copies in just the first few weeks. After the popularity of his biography, he wrote a second book called Banco: The Future Adventures of Papillon. In 1970, the French government pardoned him for his crimes, an he was finally able to go back and visit his home country without fear of being arrested.
Just a few years later, in 1973, Henri Charriere died at 66 years old. He only got to live a few years enjoying the wealth he earned from the success of his book, and the acknowledgement that he truly was innocent. That same year, they were filming a Hollywood movie about his life starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. Sadly, he never got to see the film. In 2018, a second movie called Papillon was made to tell the story, starring Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
Papillon. Henri Charrière. 1970.
Prison Breaks- Papillon The True Story Documentary. YouTube
Inside the Brutal French Guiana Prison That Inspired ‘Papillon’. Karin-Marijke Vis. Atlas Obscura. 2016.
Henri Charriere. William DeLong. AllThatIsInteresting. 2018.
Henri Charriere, Author of Papillon. Burton Lindheim. New York Times. 1973.
Banco: The Future Adventures of Papillon. Henri Charriere. 1991.