French actor (1925?2022)
Michel Bouquet
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Bouquet in 2010
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Born
| (
1925-11-06
)
6 November 1925
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Died
| 13 April 2022
(2022-04-13)
(aged 96)
Paris, France
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Nationality
| French
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Education
| CNSAD
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Occupation
| Actor
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Years active
| 1944?2021
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Spouses
|
Ariane Borg
(
m.
1954;
div.
1967)
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Michel Bouquet
(6 November 1925 ? 13 April 2022) was a French stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1947 to 2020. He won the
Best Actor European Film Award
for
Toto the Hero
in 1991 and two
Best Actor Cesars
for
How I Killed My Father
(2001) and
The Last Mitterrand
(2005). He also received the
Moliere Award for Best Actor
for
Les cotelettes
in 1998, then again for
Exit the King
in 2005. In 2014, he was awarded the Honorary Moliere for the sum of his career. He received
the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor
in 2018.
Biography
[
edit
]
Michel Francois Pierre Bouquet was born on 6 November 1925 in Paris.
[1]
When he was seven years old, he was sent to a boarding school where he stayed until the age of 14.
[2]
He aspired to become a doctor but had to quit school at the age of 15 after his father had been taken prisoner during World War II.
[3]
Bouquet worked as a baker's apprentice, then a bank clerk, to provide for the family.
[3]
After a short stay in Lyon, he returned with his mother to Paris.
[4]
Marie Bouquet was passionate about theater, and that helped the young Bouquet to find his vocation.
[2]
He took acting classes under the tutelage of
Maurice Escande
, a member of
the Comedie Francaise
, and made his stage debut in the play
La premiere etape
in 1944.
[1]
Then he studied at the
Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Paris
where he met
Gerard Philippe
.
[4]
Stage career
[
edit
]
In the mid-1940s Michel Bouquet began working with the playwright
Jean Anouilh
and director
Andre Barsacq
, who staged plays at the
Theatre de l'Atelier
in
Montmartre
.
[4]
In 1946, Anouilh gave Bouquet a part in
Romeo and Jeannette
, followed by
The Rendez-vous of Senlis
and
The Invitation to the Castle
in 1947.
[5]
In the 1950s, the actor met another stage director,
Jean Vilar
, with whom he would frequently collaborate. Bouquet played many roles from the classical repertoire at the
Festival d'Avignon
, created by Vilar in 1947 (
Henry IV
in 1950,
The Tragedy of King Richard II
in 1953, and
The Miser
in 1962).
[6]
Bouquet regularly worked with Anouilh until the early 1970s, then helped popularize in France the works of the British author
Harold Pinter
:
The Collection
in 1965,
[7]
The Birthday Party
in 1967
[8]
and
No Man's Land
in 1979.
At the same time, at the end of the 1970s, Michel Bouquet was appointed professor at the
National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts
and taught there until 1990.
[4]
In the 1980s-1990s, he returned to the Theatre de l'Atelier where he once began his career. In 1994, he played in
Exit the King
by
Eugene Ionesco
, the role he would perform many times until 2014.
[6]
In 1998 he received the
Moliere Award for Best Actor
for
Bertrand Blier's
Les cotelettes
, then again for
Exit the King
in 2005. In 2014, he was awarded the Honorary Moliere for the sum of his career.
[9]
A year later, the actor received accolades for his performance in
Taking Sides
by the British playwright
Ronald Harwood
.
[10]
Bouquet announced his retirement from stage in 2019.
[11]
Film career
[
edit
]
Though Bouquet made his screen debut in 1947, his film career was slower to develop. In 1949, he appeared in
Pattes blanches
, adapted by Jean Anouilh from his own play and directed by
Jean Gremillon
, then in Henri-Georges Clouzot's
Manon
(1950) and Anouilh's
Deux sous de violettes
(1951). Three years later, he acted in
Abel Gance's
historical melodrama
La Tour de Nesle
. In 1955, he narrated
Alain Resnais'
documentary
Night and Fog
. In 1965, he worked for the first time with director
Claude Chabrol
in
Our Agent Tiger
. Bouquet went on to act in several Chabrol films and received wide acclaim for his performances
[3]
in
The Unfaithful Wife
,
The Breach
, and
Just Before Nightfall
.
With
Francois Truffaut
he shoots as Comolli, the private detective murdered by
Jean-Paul Belmondo
in
Mississippi Mermaid
(1969) and as one of the victims of
Jeanne Moreau
in
The Bride Wore Black
.
[12]
[13]
For Chabrol he played the husband deceived by Stephane Audran in
The Unfaithful Wife
, followed by Audran's wicked father-in-law in
The Breach
. Bouquet and Audran worked together in four Chabrol films.
[14]
In the 1970s Bouquet is the obstinate cop who terrorized Alain Delon in
Deux hommes dans la ville
(1972),
[15]
candidate for legislative elections in
Defense de savoir
(1973) by
Nadine Trintignant
, the hospitalized press boss who is surrounded by
Claude Jade
in
Les Anneaux de Bicetre
(1976),
[16]
but in the same year he was also the formidable billionaire in the comedy
Le Jouet
by Francis Veber.
[17]
In this decade he played two dark roles for Andre Cayatte, in
Il n'y a pas de fumee sans feu
and
La Raison d'Etat
. Another film on the political subject is
Plot
by Yves Boisset. In the 1980s, he embodied a rotten notary and Stephane Audran's enemy in
Cop au Vin
(1986), still with Chabrol.
[18]
In 1982 he took on the role of Javert in
Robert Hossein's
adaptation of
Les Miserables
with
Lino Ventura
as Jean Valjean and
Jean Carmet
as Thenardier in 1984, and with such talent that many Hugolians consider this interpretation as the embodiment even by Javert.
[19]
Other works
[
edit
]
Over the years, Bouquet recorded his readings of the works of
Cervantes
,
Victor Hugo
,
Jean-Paul Sartre
and other authors that were released on discs. An audio book of his readings of 13 selected fables of
Jean de La Fontaine
was released in 2019 to wide critical acclaim.
[20]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Bouquet was married twice. His first wife was actress Ariane Borg, whom he divorced in 1967.
[5]
His second wife
Juliette Carre
was also an actress, who often shared the stage with him.
[21]
Bouquet died in Paris on 13 April 2022, at the age of 96.
[22]
Selected filmography
[
edit
]
Awards and nominations
[
edit
]
Cesar Awards
[
edit
]
European Film Award
[
edit
]
Globes de Cristal Award
[
edit
]
Moliere Awards
[
edit
]
Decorations
[
edit
]
Bouquet was made
Knight of the Legion of Honor
in 1983, promoted to Officer in 1996, Commander in 2007, Grand Officer in 2013, and was awarded
the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor
on 13 July 2018.
[23]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Michel Bouquet - Cinematheque francaise"
.
cinema.encyclopedie.personnalites.bifi.fr
. Retrieved
22 November
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Renault, Gilles (10 October 2017).
"Michel Bouquet, persistant"
.
Liberation.fr
(in French)
. Retrieved
23 November
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
Katz, Ephraim (1994).
The film encyclopedia
(2nd ed.). New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
ISBN
0-06-273089-4
.
OCLC
29386631
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Michel Bouquet - La biographie de Michel Bouquet avec Gala.fr"
.
Gala.fr
(in French)
. Retrieved
22 November
2019
.
- ^
a
b
"Michel Bouquet"
.
Premiere.fr
(in French)
. Retrieved
22 November
2019
.
- ^
a
b
"Michel Bouquet : biographie, actualites et emissions France Culture"
.
France Culture
(in French)
. Retrieved
22 November
2019
.
- ^
"The Collection, Paris, 1965"
.
www.haroldpinter.org
. Retrieved
23 November
2019
.
- ^
"The Birthday Party, Paris, 1967"
.
www.haroldpinter.org
. Retrieved
23 November
2019
.
- ^
a
b
"Molieres: le retour des recompenses et hommages"
.
RFI
. 3 June 2014
. Retrieved
21 November
2019
.
- ^
"Michel Bouquet, 90 ans, tout en subtilite dans "A tort ou a raison"
"
.
LExpress.fr
(in French). 24 December 2015
. Retrieved
22 November
2019
.
- ^
A.F.P.; Le Figaro (12 April 2019).
"A 93 ans, Michel Bouquet annonce qu'il ne remontera pas sur scene"
.
Le Figaro.fr
(in French)
. Retrieved
23 November
2019
.
- ^
Canby, Vincent (11 April 1970).
"Screen: A New Truffaut:'Mississippi Mermaid' Uncoils Complexly"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
Bamber, Martyn (21 March 2018).
"The Bride Wore Black (Francois Truffaut, 1968)"
.
- ^
Bergan, Ronald (27 March 2018).
"Stephane Audran obituary"
.
The Guardian
– via www.theguardian.com.
- ^
"Review: Two Men in Town"
.
Slant Magazine
. 23 August 2005.
- ^
"Zwischen Tod und Leben"
.
www.filmdienst.de
.
- ^
"Das Spielzeug"
.
www.filmdienst.de
.
- ^
"Huhnchen in Essig"
.
www.filmdienst.de
.
- ^
"Die Legion der Verdammten (1982)"
.
www.filmdienst.de
.
- ^
Merle, Sylvain (10 March 2019).
"Jean de La Fontaine raconte par Michel Bouquet, quel bonheur !"
.
leparisien.fr
(in French)
. Retrieved
26 November
2019
.
- ^
"Juliette CARRE - Biographie, spectacles, films, theatre et photos"
.
Theatres Parisiens Associes
(in French)
. Retrieved
22 November
2019
.
- ^
"Le comedien Michel Bouquet est mort a l'age de 96 ans"
.
France Bleu
. 13 April 2022.
- ^
"Decret du 13 juillet 2018 portant elevation a titre exceptionnel a la dignite de grand'croix"
.
legifrance.gouv.fr
(in French). 14 July 2018
. Retrieved
26 November
2019
.
External links
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Awards for Michel Bouquet
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International
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National
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Artists
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People
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Other
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