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Olivier Gourmet at the Cannes Film Festival.
Born	(1963-07-22) 22 July 1963 (age 48) Namur, Belgium
Occupation	actor

Olivier Gourmet (born 22 July 1963) is a Belgian actor.

Gourmet was born in Namur. He won the Best Actor award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for his role in Le Fils by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.^[1] He also appeared in La Promesse, Rosetta and L'Enfant.

Selected filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Olivier Gourmet at the Internet Movie Database

This article about a Belgian actor or actress is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Robert Mitchum
Born	Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (1917-08-06)August 6, 1917 Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.
Died	July 1, 1997(1997-07-01) (aged 79) Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Lung cancer
Occupation	Actor, author, composer, singer
Years active	1942–1996
Spouse	Dorothy Spence (1940–97)

Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time. Mitchum rose to prominence for his starring roles in several major works of the film noir style, and is considered a forerunner of the anti-heroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s.

Early life and career[link]

Mitchum was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, into a Methodist family.^[1] His mother, Ann Harriet (née Gunderson), was a Norwegian immigrant and sea captain's daughter, and his father, James Thomas Mitchum, was a shipyard and railroad worker.^[2] A sister, Annette, (known as Julie Mitchum during her acting career) was born in 1914. James Mitchum was crushed to death in a railyard accident in Charleston, South Carolina, in February 1919, when his son was less than 2 years old. After his death, Ann Mitchum was awarded a government pension, and soon realized she was pregnant. She returned to her family in Connecticut, and married a former British Army major who helped her care for the children. In September 1919 a second son, John, was born. When all of the children were old enough to attend school, Ann found employment as a linotype operator for the Bridgeport Post.^[3]

Throughout Mitchum's childhood, he was known as a prankster, often involved in fistfights and mischief. When he was 12, his mother sent Mitchum to live with his grandparents in Felton, Delaware, where he was promptly expelled from his middle school for scuffling with a principal. A year later, in 1930, he moved in with his older sister, in New York's Hell's Kitchen. After being expelled from Haaran High School, he left his sister and traveled throughout the country on railroad cars, taking a number of jobs including as a ditch-digger for the Civilian Conservation Corps and as a professional boxer. He experienced numerous adventures during his years as one of the Depression era's "wild boys of the road." At age 14 in Savannah, Georgia, he was arrested for vagrancy and put on a local chain gang. By Mitchum's own account, he escaped and returned to his family in Delaware. It was during this time, while recovering from injuries that nearly lost him a leg, that he met the woman he would marry, a teenaged Dorothy Spence. He soon went back on the road, eventually riding the rails to California.

Mitchum arrived in Long Beach, California, in 1936, staying again with his sister Julie. Soon the rest of the Mitchum family joined them in Long Beach. During this time he worked as a ghostwriter for astrologer Carroll Righter. It was sister Julie who convinced him to join the local theater guild with her. In his years with the Players Guild of Long Beach, he made a living as a stagehand and occasional bit player in company productions. He also wrote several short pieces which were performed by the guild. According to Lee Server's biography (Robert Mitchum: Baby, I Don't Care), Mitchum put a talent for poetry to work writing song lyrics and monologues for his sister Julie's nightclub performances. In 1940 he returned East to marry Dorothy, taking her back to California. He remained a footloose character until the birth of their first child, James Mitchum, nicknamed Josh (two more children would follow, Christopher Mitchum and Petrine). Mitchum then got a steady job as a machine operator with the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.

A nervous breakdown (which resulted in temporary blindness), apparently from job-related stress, led Mitchum to look for work as an actor or extra in movies. An agent he had met got him an interview with the producer of the Hopalong Cassidy series of B-westerns; he was hired to play the villain in several films in the series during 1942 and 1943. He continued to find further work as an extra and supporting actor in numerous productions for various studios. After impressing director Mervyn LeRoy during the making of Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Mitchum signed a seven-year contract with RKO Radio Pictures. He found himself groomed for B Western stardom in a series of Zane Grey adaptations.

Following the moderately successful western Nevada, Mitchum was lent from RKO to United Artists for the William Wellman-helmed The Story of G.I. Joe. In the film, he portrayed war-weary officer Bill Walker (based on Captain Henry T. Waskow), who remains resolute despite the troubles he faces. The film, which followed the life of an ordinary soldier through the eyes of journalist Ernie Pyle (played by Burgess Meredith), became an instant critical and commercial success. Shortly after making the film, Mitchum himself was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving at Fort MacArthur, California. At the 1946 Academy Awards, The Story of G.I. Joe was nominated for four Oscars, including Mitchum's only nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He finished the year off with a western (West of the Pecos) and a story of returning Marine veterans (Till the End of Time), before filming in a genre that came to define Mitchum's career and screen persona: film noir.

Film noir[link]

Mitchum was initially known for his work in film noir. His first foray into the genre was a supporting role in the B-film When Strangers Marry, about newlyweds and a New York City serial killer. Undercurrent, another of Mitchum's early noirs, featured him playing against type as a troubled, sensitive man entangled in the affairs of his brother (Robert Taylor) and his brother's suspicious wife (Katharine Hepburn). The film was director Vincente Minnelli's only film noir.

John Brahm's The Locket (1946) featured Mitchum as bitter ex-husband to Laraine Day's femme fatale, while Raoul Walsh's Pursued (1947) combined western and noir styles, with Mitchum's character attempting to recall his past and find those responsible for killing his family. Crossfire (also 1947) featured Mitchum as a member of a group of soldiers, one of whom killed a Jew. It featured themes of anti-Semitism and the failings of military training. The film, directed by Edward Dmytryk, earned five Academy Award nominations.

Mitchum's famous role in Out of the Past (1947)

Following Crossfire, Mitchum starred in Out of the Past (aka Build My Gallows High), directed by Jacques Tourneur and featuring the cinematography of Nicholas Musuraca. Mitchum played Jeff Markham, a small-town gas station owner whose unfinished business with gambler Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas) and femme fatale Kathie Moffett (Jane Greer), comes back to haunt him. Though ignored by most critics on its release, the film was a modest box office hit at the time and has received a positive reappraisal. Mitchum was photographed again by Musuraca in the Robert Wise psychological western Blood on the Moon the following year.

On September 1, 1948, after a string of successful films for RKO, Mitchum and actress Lila Leeds were arrested for possession of marijuana.^[4] The arrest was the result of a sting operation designed to capture other Hollywood partiers as well, but Mitchum and Leeds did not receive the tip-off. After serving a week at the county jail, (he described the experience to a reporter as being "like Palm Springs, but without the riff-raff") Mitchum spent 43 days (February 16 to March 30) at a Castaic, California, prison farm, with Life magazine photographers right there taking photos of him mopping up in his prison uniform.^[5] The arrest became the inspiration for the exploitation film She Shoulda Said No! (1949), which starred Leeds. The arrest did little to affect Mitchum's career in the long term, but was seen as an embarrassment by his studio, who ordered Mitchum to clean up his act. The conviction was later overturned by the Los Angeles court and District Attorney's office on January 31, 1951, with the following statement, after it was exposed as a set-up:

Whether despite, or because of, his troubles with the law and his studio, the films released immediately after his arrest were box-office hits. Rachel and the Stranger (1948) featured Mitchum in a supporting role as a mountain man competing for the hand of Loretta Young, the indentured servant and wife of William Holden, while he appeared in the film adaptation of John Steinbeck's novella The Red Pony (1949) as a trusted cowhand to a ranching family.

Mitchum returned to true film noir in The Big Steal (also 1949), where he again joined Jane Greer in an early Don Siegel film.

Career in the 1950s and 1960s[link]

In Where Danger Lives (1950) he played a doctor who comes between a mentally unbalanced Faith Domergue and cuckolded Claude Rains. The Racket was a noir remake of the early crime drama of the same name and featured Mitchum as a police captain fighting corruption in his precinct. The Josef von Sternberg film Macao (1952) saw Mitchum a victim of mistaken identity at an exotic resort casino, playing opposite Jane Russell. Otto Preminger's Angel Face was the first of three collaborations between Mitchum and British stage actress Jean Simmons. In the film, Simmons plays an insane heiress who plans to use young ambulance driver Mitchum to kill for her.

Mitchum's cynical, mischievous attitude through his career had led him to shrug off fame as a fluke. His expulsion from Blood Alley (1955) is frequently attributed to his pranks, especially one in which he reportedly threw the film's transportation manager into San Francisco Bay. According to Sam O'Steen's memoir, Cut to the Chase, Mitchum showed up on set after a night of drinking and tore apart a studio office when they didn't have a car ready for him. Mitchum walked off the set of the third day of filming Blood Alley, claiming he could not work with the director. Because he was showing up late and behaving erratically, producer John Wayne, after failing to obtain Humphrey Bogart as a replacement, took over the role himself.^[6][7]

Following a series of conventional westerns and films noirs, including the Marilyn Monroe vehicle River of No Return (1954), he appeared in Charles Laughton's only film as director, The Night of the Hunter (1955). Based on a novel by Davis Grubb, the film noir thriller starred Mitchum as a monstrous criminal posing as a preacher to find money hidden by his cellmate in the cellmate's home. His performance as Reverend Harry Powell is considered by many to be one of the best of his career.^[8][9] Stanley Kramer's melodrama Not as a Stranger though, also released in 1955, was a box office hit for Mitchum. The film starred Mitchum against type, as an idealistic young doctor, who marries an older nurse (Olivia de Havilland), only to question his morality many years later. However, the film was not well received, with most critics pointing out that Mitchum, Frank Sinatra and Lee Marvin were all too old for their characters. Olivia de Havilland received top billing over Mitchum and Sinatra.

Following a succession of average westerns and the poorly received Foreign Intrigue (1956), Mitchum starred in the first of three films with British actress Deborah Kerr. The John Huston war drama Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison starred Mitchum as a marine corporal shipwrecked on a Pacific Island with a nun, Sister Angela (Deborah Kerr), being his sole companion. In this character study they struggle to resist the elements and the invading Japanese army. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. For his role, Mitchum was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor.

Thunder Road (1958) was loosely based on an incident in which a driver transporting moonshine was said to have crashed to his death on Kingston Pike in Knoxville, Tennessee somewhere between Bearden Hill and Morrell Road. According to Metro Pulse writer Jack Renfro, the incident occurred in 1952 and may have been witnessed by James Agee, who passed the story on to Mitchum–who not only starred in the movie, but also produced the film, co-wrote the screenplay, and is rumored to have directed much of the film himself. Mitchum also co-wrote (with Don Raye) the theme song, "The Ballad of Thunder Road."

In The Sundowners (1960)

Mitchum and Kerr reunited for the Fred Zinnemann film, The Sundowners (1960), where they played husband and wife struggling in Depression-era Australia. Opposite Mitchum, Kerr was nominated for yet another Academy Award for Best Actress, while the film was nominated for a total of five Oscars. Robert Mitchum was awarded that year's National Board of Review award for Best Actor for his performance. The award also recognized his superior performance in the Vincente Minnelli western drama Home from the Hill (also 1960). He was teamed with both Kerr and previous leading lady Jean Simmons as well as Cary Grant for the extremely offbeat Stanley Donen ensemble comedy The Grass Is Greener the same year.

Mitchum's performance as the menacing southern rapist Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962) brought him even more attention and furthered his renown as playing cool, predatory characters. The 1960s were marked by a number of lesser films and missed opportunities. Among the films Mitchum passed on during the decade was John Huston's The Misfits, the last film of its stars Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, the Academy Award–winning Patton, and Dirty Harry. The most notable of his films in the decade included the war epics The Longest Day (1962) and Anzio (1968), the Shirley MacLaine comedy-musical What a Way to Go! (1964), and the Howard Hawks western El Dorado (1966), a remake of Rio Bravo (1959), in which Mitchum took over Dean Martin's role of the drunk who comes to the aid of John Wayne.

Music career[link]

One of the lesser known aspects of Mitchum's career was his forays into music, both as singer and composer

Mitchum's voice was often used instead of that of a professional singer when his characters sang in his films. Notable productions featuring Mitchum's own singing voice included Rachel and the Stranger, River of No Return and The Night of the Hunter. After hearing traditional calypso music and meeting artists such as Mighty Sparrow and Lord Invader while filming Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison in the Caribbean island of Tobago, he recorded Calypso — is like so... in March 1957. On the album, released through Capitol Records, he emulated the calypso sound and style, even adopting the style's unique pronunciations and slang. A year later he recorded a song he had written for the film Thunder Road, titled "The Ballad of Thunder Road". The country-styled song became a modest hit for Mitchum, reaching #69 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart. The song was included as a bonus track on a successful reissue of Calypso... and helped market the film to a wider audience.

Though Mitchum continued to use his singing voice in his film work, he waited until 1967 to record his follow-up record, That Man, Robert Mitchum, Sings. The album, released by Nashville-based Monument Records, took him further into country music, and featured songs similar to The Ballad of Thunder Road. "Little Old Wine Drinker Me," the first single, was a top ten hit at country radio, reaching #9 there, and crossed over onto mainstream radio, where it peaked at #96. Its follow-up, "You Deserve Each Other," also charted on the Billboard Country Singles Chart.

Mitchum also co-wrote and composed the music for an oratorio which was produced by Orson Welles at the Hollywood Bowl.^[10]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

Later career[link]

Mitchum at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.

Mitchum made a departure from his typical screen persona with the 1970 David Lean film Ryan's Daughter, in which he starred as Charles Shaughnessy, a mild-mannered schoolmaster in World War I era Ireland. Though the film was nominated for four Academy Awards (winning two) and Mitchum was much publicized as a contender for a Best Actor nomination, he was not nominated. George C. Scott won the award for his performance in Patton, a project which Mitchum had rejected for Ryan's Daughter.

The 1970s featured Mitchum in a number of well-received crime dramas. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) saw the actor playing an aging Boston hoodlum caught between the Feds and his criminal friends. Sydney Pollack's The Yakuza (1975) transplanted the typical film noir story arc to the Japanese underworld. He also appeared in 1976's Midway about an epic 1942 World War II battle. Mitchum's stint as an aging Philip Marlowe in the Raymond Chandler adaptation Farewell, My Lovely (1975) was sufficiently well-received by audiences and critics for him to reprise the role in 1978's The Big Sleep.

In 1982, Mitchum went on location to Scranton, Pennsylvania, to play Coach Delaney in the film adaptation of playwright/actor Jason Miller's 1973 Pulitzer Prize winning play That Championship Season. He played a hard-boiled, bigoted coach whose former star players continue to swear allegiance to him, with one exception.

Mitchum expanded into the medium of television with the 1983 miniseries The Winds of War. The big-budget Herman Wouk story aired on ABC and starred Mitchum as naval officer "Pug" Henry, and examined the events leading up to America's involvement in World War II. He followed it in 1988 with War and Remembrance, which followed America through the war, and returned to the big screen for a memorable supporting role in Bill Murray's Scrooged.

In 1987, Mitchum was the guest host on Saturday Night Live where he played private eye Philip Marlowe for the last time in the parody sketch, "Death Be Not Deadly". The show also ran a short comedy film he made (written and directed by his daughter, Trina) called Out of Gas. This was a mock sequel to his 1947 classic Out of the Past. Jane Greer reprised her role from the original film.

In 1991, he won a lifetime achievement award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures and the Cecil B. DeMille Award from the Golden Globe Awards in 1992.

Though Mitchum continued to appear in films throughout the 1990s, such as Tombstone, Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, and appeared in contrast to his role as the antagonist in the original, a protagonist police detective in Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear, the actor gradually slowed his workload. His last film appearance was in the television biopic, James Dean: Race with Destiny. His last starring role was in the 1995 Norwegian movie Pakten.

Death[link]

Mitchum died on July 1, 1997, in Santa Barbara, California, due to complications of lung cancer and emphysema. His body was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea.^[11] He was survived by his wife of 57 years, Dorothy Mitchum, and actor sons, James Mitchum, Christopher Mitchum, and daughter Petrina (Trina) Mitchum. His grandchildren, Bentley Mitchum and Carrie Mitchum, are also actors, as was his younger brother John Mitchum, who died in 2001. His other grandson, Kian Mitchum, is a successful model.^[12]

Legacy[link]

Graffiti of Mitchum in Atlanta, Georgia

Mitchum is regarded by critics as one of the finest actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Roger Ebert called him 'the soul of film noir'. Mitchum himself, however, was self-effacing; in an interview with Barry Norman for the BBC about his contribution to cinema, Mitchum stopped Norman in mid flow and in his typical phlegmatic style said, "Look, I have two kinds of acting. One on a horse and one off a horse. That's it." He had also succeeded in annoying some of his fellow actors by voicing his puzzlement at those who viewed the profession as challenging and hard work. He is quoted as having said in a BBC interview with Barry Norman that acting was actually very simple and that his job was to "show up on time, know his lines, hit his marks, and go home".^[13][14]

Interviewer Larry King has said on a number of occasions that Mitchum's interview was his most challenging. Mitchum, a man of few words, tended to answer simply "Yes" or "No" to many of King's questions.

He is #23 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars. Along with his performance as the menacing rapist Max Cady, is #28 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains, as a villain.

He was the voice of the famous American Beef Council commercials that touted "Beef . . . it's what's for dinner", from the early 1980s until his death. There is a "Mitchum's Steakhouse" in Trappe, Maryland,^[15] where Mitchum and his family lived from 1959 to 1965.^[16]

Filmography[link]

Features[link]

Short subjects[link]

• The Magic of Make-up (1942)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Goes to Bat (1950)
• Waiting for the Wind (1990)

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Calypso — is like so... (1957, Capitol)
• That Man, Robert Mitchum, Sings (1967, Monument) Country: #35

Singles[link]

• "The Ballad of Thunder Road" (1958, Capitol) Pop: #62
• "Little Old Wine Drinker Me" (1967, Monument) Country: #9 Pop: #96
• "You Deserve Each Other" (1967, Monument) Country: #55

Further reading[link]

• Lee Server (2001). Robert Mitchum: "Baby, I Don't Care". New York: St Martin's. ISBN 0-312-26206-X. 
• Mike Tomkies The Robert Mitchum Story, "It Sure Beats Working" Ballantine Books, 1972, ISBN 0-345-23484-7
• John Mitchum Them Ornery Mitchum Boys, The Adventures of Robert and John Mitchum, Creatures at Large, 1989, ISBN 0-940064-07-3
• TCM Film Guide, "Leading Men: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actors of the Studio Era", Chronicle Books, San Francisco, California, 2006, ISBN 0-8118-5467-1

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robert Mitchum

• Robert Mitchum at the Internet Movie Database
• Robert Mitchum at the TCM Movie Database
• Profile @ Turner Classic Movies
• Photographs and literature
• The short film STAFF FILM REPORT 66-12A (1966) is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]

Michel Blanc
Michel Blanc in 2009
Born	(1952-04-16) 16 April 1952 (age 60) Courbevoie, Hauts-de-Seine, France
Occupation	Actor, film director
Years active	1974 - present

Michel Blanc (born 16 April 1952 in Courbevoie, France) is a actor and director who is noted for his roles of losers and hypochondriacs. He is frequently associated with the Splendid group, which he co-founded, along with Thierry Lhermitte, Josiane Balasko, Christian Clavier and Gérard Jugnot.

Michel Blanc has also shown his versatility by appearing in more serious roles, such as the title role in the Patrice Leconte film Monsieur Hire.

Filmography[link]

As actor unless otherwise specified

• 1974 : Que la fête commence, directed by Bertrand Tavernier
• 1975 : La Meilleure façon de marcher, directed by Claude Miller
• 1975 : Attention les yeux, directed by Gérard Pirès
• 1975 : Un bol d'air
• 1976 : Je t'aime... moi non plus, directed by Serge Gainsbourg
• 1977 : Le Locataire, directed by Roman Polanski
• 1977 : L'Ordinateur des pompes funèbres
• 1977 : On aura tout vu, directed by Georges Lautner
• 1977 : Le Diable dans la boîte, directed by Pierre Lary
• 1978 : Des enfants gâtés, directed by Bertrand Tavernier
• 1978 : Le Point de mire
• 1978 : Vous n'aurez pas l'Alsace et la Lorraine
• 1978 : Les héros n'ont pas froid aux oreilles, directed by Charles Némès
• 1978 : Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé
• 1978 : Les Bronzés, directed by Patrice Leconte
• 1978 : Chaussette surprise
• 1979 : La Gueule de l'autre, directed by Pierre Tchernia
• 1979 : Les bronzés font du ski, directed by Patrice Leconte
• 1979 : Rien ne va plus
• 1979 : L'Adolescente, directed by Jeanne Moreau
• 1979 : Cause toujours tu m'intéresses
• 1980 : Le Cheval d'orgueil, directed by Claude Chabrol
• 1980 : Viens chez moi j'habite chez une copine, directed by Patrice Leconte
• 1981 : Ma femme s'appelle reviens, directed by Patrice Leconte
• 1982 : Samedi samedi
• 1983 : Circulez y a rien à voir, directed by Patrice Leconte
• 1983 : Nemo, directed by Arnaud Selignac
• 1983 : Retenez Moi...Ou Je Fais Un Malheur, directed by Michel Girard
• 1983 : Papy fait de la résistance, directed by Jean-Marie Poiré
• 1984 : Marche à l'ombre, director, writer and actor
• 1986 : Tenue de soirée, directed by Bertrand Blier
• 1986 : Je hais les acteurs de Gérard Krawczyk
• 1986 : Les Fugitifs, directed by Francis Veber
• 1988 : Sans peur et sans reproche, directed by Gérard Jugnot
• 1988 : Une nuit à l'assemblée nationale, directed by Jean-Pierre Mocky
• 1989 : Monsieur Hire, directed by Patrice Leconte
• 1989 : Chambre à part, directed by Jacky Cukier
• 1990 : Uranus, directed by Claude Berri
• 1990 : Strike it Rich
• 1991 : Merci la vie, directed by Bertrand Blier
• 1991 : Les Secrets professionnels du Dr Apfelglück d'Alessandro Capone
• 1991 : Prospero's Books, directed by Peter Greenaway
• 1991 : The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish, directed by Ben Lewin
• 1993 : Toxic affaire, directed by Philomène Esposito
• 1994 : Grosse fatigue, director, writer and actor
• 1994 : Prêt-à-porter, directed by Robert Altman
• 1994 : Le Monstre, directed by Roberto Benigni
• 1996 : Les Grands Ducs, directed by Patrice Leconte
• 1999 : Mauvaise passe, director, writer
• 2002 : Embrassez qui vous voudrez, director, writer and actor
• 2003 : Madame Édouard, directed by Nadine Monfils
• 2006 : Je vous trouve très beau, directed by Isabelle Mergault
• 2006 : Les Bronzés 3 : Amis pour la vie, directed by Patrice Leconte
• 2007 : Les Témoins - directed by André Téchiné
• 2008 : Nos 18 ans
• 2009 : La Fille du Rer - directed by André Téchiné
• 2011 : Et soudain, tout le monde me manque de Jennifer Devoldère : Eli
• 2011 : L'Exercice de l'Etat de Pierre Schoeller : Bertrand Saint-Jean

External links[link]

• Michel Blanc at the Internet Movie Database

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2009)

François Cluzet
Born	(1955-09-21) 21 September 1955 (age 56) Paris, France
Years active	1976 - present

François Cluzet (born 21 September 1955) is a French film and theatre actor, best known in the English-speaking world for starring in the 2006 French film "Tell No One", based on the novel of the same name by the American author Harlan Coben. He won the 2007 César Award for Best Actor for his role as Dr Alexandre Beck in the film.

Biography[link]

François Cluzet grew up in Paris, and made a stage debut in 1976. He made his première appearance on the big screen in 1979 in Cocktail Molotov with Diane Kurys. A year later, Cluzet appears in Cheval d'orgueil written by Claude Chabrol, a director he works with again in 1982 for Les Fantômes du chapelier. In 1983, he plays in L'Été meurtrier with Jean Becker, for which he won a César nomination for best supporting role of the year, while at the same time making the list for best new male for his role in Vive la sociale.

Cluzet collaborated next with some of the biggest French directors, all of whom had a predilection towards dramatic works: reuniting with Diane Kurys in 1983 for Coup de foudre, reuniting with Bertrand Tavernier (the star of Autour de minuit in 1985), Tony Gatlif (Rue du départ, 1985), Claire Denis (Chocolat, 1987), Pierre Jolivet (Force majeure, 1988 and one new César nomination for best second male role), Bertrand Blier (Trop belle pour toi, 1989) and again Robert Enrico (La Révolution française). Next, the actor found Claude Chabrol for a role of a husband tortured by jealousy in L'Enfer (1994) after having filmed with Chabrol in 1988 for Une affaire de femmes.

In 1994, Cluzet tried international cinema, with participations in Prêt-à-porter with Robert Altman and in French Kiss with Lawrence Kasdan. He returned to French cinema and comedy in 1995 with Les Apprentis (César nomination for best actor) and Enfants de salaud with Tonie Marshall, following a new Claude Chabrol : Rien ne va plus in 1997 au cinéma. Cluzet often portrayed a role of the tormented writer: Fin août, début septembre with Olivier Assayas, L'Examen de minuit (1998), and Je suis un assassin (2004). He performed the double of John Lennon in Janis et John (2003) and an animator of tele-shopping in France Boutique (2004). In 2005, he played in Le Domaine perdu with Raoul Ruiz, which portrayed the coup d'état of Chile in 1973.

2006 was a big year for Cluzet with his role of an over-the-hill F1 champion, touching and naive, paralysed with love for Isabelle Carré in Quatre étoiles. But it was his interpretation of Alexandre Beck in the thriller Tell No One with Guillaume Canet which put him ahead of the scene. For this portrayal, he received a César for best actor in 2007.

Cluzet has a son Paul (who is the son of the late actress Marie Trintignant) as well as three other children: Blanche, Joseph and Marguerite.

In September 2009, during a TV news show, Cluzet openly mentioned his support for Salah Hamouri, a Franco-Palestinian held in an Israeli prison, to the surprise of the TV host and the Member of Parliament present during the show, Jean-François Copé.^[1]

Filmography[link]

• 1979 : Cocktail Molotov
• 1980 : Le Cheval d'orgueil
• 1982 : Les Fantômes du chapelier
• 1982 : Coup de foudre
• 1983 : One Deadly Summer (L'Été meurtrier)
• 1983 : Vive la sociale !
• 1984 : Les Enragés
• 1985 : Round Midnight (Autour de minuit)
• 1985 : États d'âme
• 1985 : Elsa, Elsa
• 1985 : Rue du départ
• 1987 : Association of Wrongdoers
• 1987 : Jaune revolver
• 1988 : Chocolat
• 1988 : Force majeure
• 1988 : Story of Women (Une affaire de femmes)
• 1988 : Deux
• 1989 : Roundabout (Un tour de manège)
• 1989 : Too Beautiful for You (Trop belle pour toi)
• 1989 : La Révolution française
• 1991 : À demain
• 1992 : Sexes faibles
• 1992 : L'Instinct de l'ange
• 1994 : Le Vent du Wyoming
• 1994 : L'Enfer
• 1994 : Prêt-à-porter
• 1995 : Dialogue au sommet
• 1995 : French Kiss
• 1995 : The Horseman on the Roof (Le Hussard sur le toit)
• 1995 : Les Apprentis
• 1996 : Enfants de salaud
• 1996 : Le Silence de Rak
• 1997 : Le Déménagement
• 1997 : Rien ne va plus
• 1997 : La Voie est libre
• 1998 : L'Examen de minuit
• 1998 : Fin août, début septembre
• 1998 : Dolce Farniente
• 2001 : L'Adversaire
• 2002 : Mon accident
• 2002 : Mais qui a tué Pamela Rose ?
• 2002 : Janis et John
• 2002 : France Boutique
• 2002 : La Famille Guérin, (TV series)
• 2003 : Quand je vois le soleil
• 2003 : Je suis un assassin
• 2004 : La Cloche a sonné
• 2006 : Quatre étoiles
• 2006 : Tell No One (Ne le dis à personne)
• 2007 : Ma Place au soleil
• 2007 : La Vérité ou presque
• 2007 : Détrompez-vous
• 2008 : Les Liens du Sang
• 2008 : Paris
• 2009 : In the Beginning
• 2010 : Little White Lies (Les petits mouchoirs)
• 2011 : Intouchables
• 2011 : A Monster in Paris
• 2011 : The Art of Love
• 2012 : The Intouchables

Television[link]

• 1984 : Aveugle, que veux-tu ?
• 1988 : Sueurs froides : À la mémoire d'un ange de Claire Devers

Theatre[link]

• 1992 : Belgicae by Anita Van Belle, directed by Pierre Pradinas, at the Festival d'Avignon

Awards[link]

• Winner of the César for the Best Actor
  • 2007 - Tell No One
• 3 Nominations for the César for the Best Actor
  • 1995 - Les Apprentis
  • 2009 - A l'Origine
  • 2009 - Le Dernier pour la Route
• 4 Nominations for the César for the Best Supporting Actor
  • 1983 - L'Été meurtrier
  • 1988 - Force majeure
  • 1989 - Trop belle pour toi
  • 2002 - L'Adversaire

References[link]

External links[link]

• François Cluzet at the Internet Movie Database

v t e César Award for Best Actor 1976 Philippe Noiret · 1977 Michel Galabru · 1978 Jean Rochefort · 1979 Michel Serrault · 1980 Claude Brasseur · 1981 Gérard Depardieu · 1982 Michel Serrault · 1983 Philippe Léotard · 1984 Coluche · 1985 Alain Delon · 1986 Christophe Lambert · 1987 Daniel Auteuil · 1988 Richard Bohringer · 1989 Jean-Paul Belmondo · 1990 Philippe Noiret · 1991 Gérard Depardieu · 1992 Jacques Dutronc · 1993 Claude Rich · 1994 Pierre Arditi · 1995 Gérard Lanvin · 1996 Michel Serrault · 1997 Philippe Torreton · 1998 André Dussollier · 1999 Jacques Villeret · 2000 Daniel Auteuil · 2001 Sergi López · 2002 Michel Bouquet · 2003 Adrien Brody · 2004 Omar Sharif · 2005 Mathieu Amalric · 2006 Michel Bouquet · 2007 François Cluzet · 2008 Mathieu Amalric · 2009 Vincent Cassel · 2010 Tahar Rahim · 2011 Éric Elmosnino · 2012 Omar Sy