French film actor (1927?2020)
Robert Hossein
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Robert Hossein in 2013
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Born
| (
1927-12-30
)
30 December 1927
Paris, France
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Died
| 31 December 2020
(2020-12-31)
(aged 93)
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Occupation(s)
| Actor, film director
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Years active
| 1948?2019
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Spouses
|
(
m.
1955;
div.
1960)
Caroline Eliacheff
(
m.
1962;
div.
1964)
Candice Patou
(
m.
1976)
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Children
| 4
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Robert Hossein
(30 December 1927 ? 31 December 2020) was a French film actor, director, and writer. He directed
the 1982 adaptation of
Les Miserables
and appeared in
Vice and Virtue
,
Le Casse
,
Les Uns et les Autres
and
Venus Beauty Institute
. His other roles include
Michele Mercier
's husband in the
Angelique
series, a gunfighter in the
Spaghetti Western
Cemetery Without Crosses
(which he also directed and co-wrote), and a
Catholic
priest
who falls in love with
Claude Jade
and becomes a
communist
in
Forbidden Priests
.
Cinematic career
[
edit
]
Hossein started directing films in 1955 with
Les Salauds vont en enfer
,
[1]
from a story by
Frederic Dard
whose novels and plays went on to furnish Hossein with much of his later film material. Right from the start Hossein established his characteristic trademarks: using a seemingly straightforward
suspense
plot and subverting its conventions (sometimes to the extent of a complete disregard of the traditional demand for a final twist or revelation) in order to concentrate on ritualistic relationships.
[
citation needed
]
This is the director's running preoccupation which is always stressed in his films by an extraordinary command of film space and often striking frame compositions where the geometry of human figures and
set design
is used to accentuate the psychological set-up of the scene. The mechanisms of guilt and the way it destroys relationships is another recurring theme, presumably influenced by Hossein's lifelong interest in the works of
Dostoyevsky
.
[
citation needed
]
In 1967, he was a member of the jury of the
5th Moscow International Film Festival
.
[2]
His 1982 film
Les Miserables
was entered into the
13th Moscow International Film Festival
where it won a Special Prize.
[3]
Although Hossein had some modest international successes with films like
Toi, le venin
and
The Vampire of Dusseldorf
, he was much singled out for scorching criticism by the critics and followers of the
New Wave
for the unashamedly melodramatic frameworks of his films. The fact that he was essentially an
auteur
director with a consistent set of themes and an extraordinary mastery of original and unusual approaches to staging his stories, was never appreciated.
[
citation needed
]
He was not averse to trying his hand at widely different genres and was never defeated, making the strikingly different
Spaghetti Western
Cemetery Without Crosses
and the low-budgeted but daringly subversive period drama
I Killed Rasputin
.
[
citation needed
]
However, because of the lack of wider success and continuing adverse criticism, Hossein virtually ended his film directing career in 1970, having concentrated on theatre where his achievements were never questioned, and subsequently returning to film directing only twice. With two or three exceptions, his films remain commercially unavailable and very difficult to see.
[
citation needed
]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Robert Hossein's grandfather was born in
Azerbaijan
.
[4]
[
better source needed
]
His father was
Andre Hossein
, a composer of
Iranian Azerbaijani
origin,
[5]
[6]
[7]
[
better source needed
]
and his mother was Anna Mincovschi, a
Jewish
comedy actress from
Soroca
(
Bessarabia
).
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
He was married three times: first to
Marina Vlady
(then Marina Poliakoff; on 23 December 1955, they had two sons, Pierre and Igor), later on 7 June 1962, to Caroline Eliacheff, daughter of Francoise Giroud (they had a son, Nicholas, who became
rabbi
Aaron Eliacheff).
[8]
She was fifteen at the time and he was 34. In 1973, he dated for a short while Michele Watrin, before she died the following year in a car accident. In 1976, he married actress Candice Patou, with whom he had a son.
[
citation needed
]
Religion
[
edit
]
In 1971, Hossein was baptized in the
Roman Catholic Church
.
[12]
According to an article written by Emannuel Peze, Hossein experienced a conversion to Catholicism in 1971 during a visit to the
Marian apparition
at San Damiano in Lombard, Italy.
[13]
In 2007, he presented a play entitled
Do Not be Afraid
(
N'ayez pas peur
) of the life of
Pope John Paul II
.
[14]
He had a special devotion to
Saint Therese of Lisieux
.
[15]
Death
[
edit
]
Hossein died of
COVID-19
on 31 December 2020, one day after his 93rd birthday, during the
COVID-19 pandemic in France
.
[16]
Selected filmography
[
edit
]
Honours
[
edit
]
Foreign honours
[
edit
]
Member of Eurasian Academy (2016).
[18]
[19]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Les Salauds vont en enfer
at
IMDb
- ^
"5th Moscow International Film Festival (1967)"
.
MIFF
. Archived from
the original
on 16 January 2013
. Retrieved
9 December
2012
.
- ^
"13th Moscow International Film Festival (1983)"
.
MIFF
. Archived from
the original
on 7 November 2013
. Retrieved
31 January
2013
.
- ^
Ilham Aliyev and President of the French Republic Francois Hollande had dinner together
- ^
Робер Оссейн: ≪Нашу с Мариной Влади семью погубил русский быт≫
Russian
:
"Мой отец Андре Оссейн родился в Самарканде, хотя по национальности он азербайджанец, был очень талантливым человеком."
Shigareva, Yulia (28 August 2013).
Argumenty i Fakty
.
- ^
Robert Hossein
Eurasian Academy official website
Archived
2019-10-01 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Ilham Aliyev and President of the French Republic Francois Hollande had dinner together"
.
president.az
. 12 May 2014
. Retrieved
17 August
2019
.
- ^
a
b
"Robert Hossein et son fils le rabbin Aaron Eliacheff"
(10 February 2011)
Harissa
- ^
According to the program
Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde
, presented by Patrick Sebastien on 22 September 2007
- ^
Genealogy of the Hossein-Mincovschi Family
- ^
The International Who's Who 2004
- ^
"Robert Hossein, un artiste a la recherche de l'amour de Dieu"
.
www.archivioradiovaticana.va
. Retrieved
2020-12-31
.
- ^
Peze, Emmanuel. (1985) Published in the Marian Collection (1985) by Brother Albert Pfleger, Marist. As reported by the Mary of Nazareth project, at
[1]
- ^
James Mackenzie
"French Showman Brings Pope John Paul II to Stage"
(20 September 2007) Reuters.
- ^
Pyotr Rozvarin (19 March 2002)
"A Pessimist Full of Optimism: An interview with Robert Hossein"
,
Vremya novostei
, No. 47 Retrieved 22 December 2007
(in Russian)
- ^
Robert Hossein, le geant du theatre populaire, est mort
(in French)
- ^
Sovereign Ordonnance n°800 of 18 Nov. 2006
by Prince Albert II
- ^
Eurasian Academy Official Site
- ^
"Archived copy"
. Archived from
the original
on 21 November 2016
. Retrieved
21 November
2016
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link
)
External links
[
edit
]
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