Philippe Noiret

Philippe Noiret

born on 1/10/1930 in Lille, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

died on 23/11/2006 in Paris, Île-de-France, France

Philippe Noiret

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Philippe Noiret

Noiret in 2003.
Born 1 October 1930
Lille, Nord, France
Died 23 November 2006 (aged 76)
Paris, France
Spouse(s) Monique Chaumette (1927)

Philippe Noiret (born 1 October 1930, Lille, France; died 23 November 2006, Paris, France) was a French film actor.

Biography

Noiret's father was in the clothes trade. Philippe was an indifferent scholar and attended several prestigious Paris schools, including the Lycée Janson de Sailly. He failed several times to pass his baccalauréat exams, so he decided to study theater. He trained at the Centre Dramatique de l'Ouest and toured with the Théâtre National Populaire for seven years, where he met Monique Chaumette, whom he married in 1962. During that time he developed a career as a nightclub comedian in a duo act with Jean-Pierre Darras, in which he played Louis XIV in an extravagant wig opposite Darras as the dramatist Jean Racine. In these roles they satirized the politics of Charles de Gaulle, Michel Debré and André Malraux.

Noiret's screen debut (1949) was an uncredited role in Gigi. In 1955 he appeared in La Pointe Courte directed by Agnès Varda. She said later - "I discovered in him a breadth of talent rare in a young actor." Sporting a pudding-basin haircut, Noiret played a lovelorn youth in the southern fishing port of Sète. He later admitted : "I was scared stiff, and fumbled my way through the part - I am totally absent in the film." He was not cast again until 1960 in Zazie dans le métro. After playing second leads in Georges Franju's Thérèse Desqueyroux in 1962, and in Le Capitaine Fracasse, from Théophile Gautier's romantic adventure, he became a regular on the French screen, without being cast in major roles until La Vie de château directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau in 1966. He became a star in France with Yves Robert's Alexandre le Bienheureux

"When I began to have success in the movies," Noiret told film critic Joe Leydon at the Cannes Film Festival in 1989, "it was a big surprise for me. For actors of my generationall the men of 50 or 60 now in French moviesall of us were thinking of being stage actors. Even people like Jean-Paul Belmondo, all of us, we never thought we'd become movie stars. So, at the beginning, I was just doing it for the money, and because they asked me to do it. But after two or three years of working on movies, I started to enjoy it, and to be very interested in it. And I'm still very interested in it, because I've never really understood how it works. I mean, what is acting for the movies? I've never really understood."[1]

Noiret was cast primarily as the Everyman character, although he did not hesitate to accept controversial roles, such as in La Grande Bouffe, a film about suicide by overeating, which caused a scandal at Cannes in 1973, and in 1991 André Téchiné cast Noiret in J'embrasse pas (I Don't Kiss), as a melancholy old homosexual obsessed with young male flesh. And in 1987, in The Gold-rimmed Glasses based on Giorgio Bassani's novel about the cramped social life of post-war Ferrara in Italy, he played an elderly and respectable doctor who is gradually suspected of being a covert homosexual with a passion for a beautiful young man (Rupert Everett). Noiret won his first César Award for his role in Vieux Fusil in 1976. His second César came in 1990 for his role in Life and Nothing But. Noiret appeared in Hollywood-financed films by Alfred Hitchcock (Topaz), George Cukor (Justine), Ted Kotcheff (Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?), Peter Yates (Murphy's War) and Anatole Litvak (The Night of the Generals). But he may be best known for his roles as Alfredo in Cinema Paradiso, Pablo Neruda in Il Postino, and Major Dellaplane in Bertrand Tavernier's Life and Nothing But.[2]

By the time of his death from cancer in Paris in 2006, aged 76, Noiret had more than 100 film roles to his credit. He often joked with interviewers about his virtually non-stop work schedule, telling Joe Leydon in 1989: "You never know what will be the success of a film. And it's always comfortable to be making another film when you're reading terrible notices for your last film. You can say, 'Well, that's a pity, but I'm already working on another job.' It helps in your living. You see, if you're only making one film a year, or one film every year and a half, it's hard. Because when it's a failure, what do you do? What do you become? You're dead.[1]

Awards

  • BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
    • 1990 - Nuovo Cinema Paradiso
  • César Award for Best Actor
    • 1976 - Le Vieux Fusil
    • 1990 - La Vie et rien d'autre

Selected Filmography

Year Title Role Director
1949 Gigi uncredited Jacqueline Audry
1950 Olivia
1952 Agence matrimoniale uncredited Jean-Paul Le Chanois
1956 La Pointe courte (aka The Short Point) Lui Agnès Varda
1960 Zazie dans le Métro Uncle Gabriel Louis Malle
1961 Le Capitaine Fracasse Hérode Pierre Gaspard-Huit
1962 Comme un poisson dans l'eau (aka Like a Fish in the Water) Lucien Barlemont André Michel
Le Crime ne paie pas Clovis Hugues Gérard Oury
Thérèse Desqueyroux Bernard Desqueyroux Georges Franju
1964 Les Copains (aka The Buddies ) Bénin Yves Robert
1965 La Vie de château (aka Castle Life) Jérôme Jean-Paul Rappeneau
1966 Tendre voyou Bibi Dumonceaux Jean Becker
1967 Alexandre le bienheureux Alexandre Yves Robert
Night of the Generals Inspector Morand Anatole Litvak
1969 Topaz Henri Jarré Alfred Hitchcock
Clérambard Hector de Clérambard Yves Robert
Mr. Freedom Cameo appearance William Klein
1971 Murphy's War Louis Brezon Peter Yates
La Mandarine Georges Édouard Molinaro
1972 The Old Maid Gabriel Marcassus Jean-Pierre Blanc
1973 La Grande Bouffe Philippe Marco Ferreri
1974 Don't Touch the White Woman! General Terry Marco Ferreri
The Clockmaker Michel Descombes Bertrand Tavernier
1975 Amici miei Giorgio Perozzi Mario Monicelli
Le vieux fusil Julien Dandieu Robert Enrico
Que la fête commence (English title: Let Joy Reign Supreme) Philippe II, Duke of Orléans Bertrand Tavernier
1976 Une Femme à sa Fenêtre (English title: A Woman With Her Window) Raoul Malfosse Pierre Granier-Deferre
The Judge and the Assassin Judge Rousseau Bertrand Tavernier
1977 The Purple Taxi Philippe Marcal Yves Boisset
Tendre Poulet Antoine Lemercier Philippe de Broca
1978 Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? Moulineau Ted Kotcheff
Le Témoin (aka The Witness) Robert Maurisson Jean-Pierre Mocky
1980 Pile ou face Louis Baroni Robert Enrico
On a volé la cuisse de Jupiter Antoine Lemercier Philippe de Broca
1981 Tre fratelli (aka Three Brothers) Raffaele Giuranna Francesco Rosi
Coup de Torchon Lucien Cordier Bertrand Tavernier
1982 L'étoile du nord (aka North Star ) Edouard Binet Pierre Granier-Deferre
All My Friends Part 2 Giorgio Perozzi Mario Monicelli
1984 Les Ripoux (aka My New Partner) René Boisrond Claude Zidi
1985 L'Eté prochain (aka The Next Summer) Edouard Nadine Trintignant
1986 Speriamo che sia femmina (aka Let's Hope It's a Girl) Count Leonardo Mario Monicelli
1987 Masques (aka Masks) Christian Legagneur Claude Chabrol
1989 The Return of the Musketeers Cardinal Mazarin Richard Lester
Ripoux contre ripoux René Boisrond Claude Zidi
Nuovo Cinema Paradiso Alfredo Giuseppe Tornatore
La Vie et Rien D'autre (aka Life and Nothing But) Commander Dellaplane Bertrand Tavernier
1991 J'embrasse pas (aka I Do Not Kiss) Romain André Téchiné
Uranus Watrin Claude Berri
1992 Tango François d'Amour Patrice Leconte
1994 Il Postino Pablo Neruda Michael Radford
La Fille de d'Artagnan (aka Revenge of the Musketeers) d'Artagnan Bertrand Tavernier
Grosse Fatigue as himself Michel Blanc
1997 Soleil (akaSun) Joseph Lévy Roger Hanin
Les Palmes de M. Schutz Monsieur Schutz Claude Pinoteau
Le Bossu (aka On Guard) Philippe d'Orléans Philippe de Broca
2002 Les Côtelettes (aka The Chops) Léonce Grison Bertrand Blier
Père et fils Léo Michel Boujenah
2003 Ripoux 3 René Boisrond / Jean Morzini Claude Zidi
2007 Trois amis Serano Michel Boujenah

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 [1] MovingPictureBlog.com, 23 November 2006
  2. [2] EW.com, 27 November 2006

External links

This page was last modified 26.12.2012 11:43:03

This article uses material from the article Philippe Noiret from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.