Deaths: April 13
List activity
581 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
49 people
- Actress
- Make-Up Department
- Costume Designer
Siboney Lo was born on Halloween, 1978 in Santiago, Chile. Her heritage is a mix of Italian & Chilean. She speaks fluent English, Italian & Spanish.
Siboney attended high school in the United States where she studied at the Archbishop Chapelle High School in Metairie, Louisiana, and was a member of the prestigious Arts Honor Society of New Orleans. At this time she also attended John Casablanca, New Orleans Modeling School.
She majored in theater, minored in the Arts and in Mythology of Theatre in Education at the highly regarded U.C. (Catholic University of Santiago de Chile a.k.a. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Santiago de Chile).
In 1999 Siboney Lo worked with Gonzalo Justiniano (co-producer of Motorcycle Diaries), and became known throughout the world for her portrayal of Marta in the film "El Leyton" a.k.a. "Until Death Do Us Apart". She was awarded the "Best Actress Award" at the 2003 Miami Latin Film Festival & was "Nominated Best Actress 2003" at the Chilean Arts & Entertainment Critics Awards for her part in this film. In 2003 she received an "Outstanding Citizen Award" for the "national promotion of the arts" in Iquique, Chile. She also studied Digital Journalism in 2005, at a workshop given by the British Broadcasting Corporation & Saint Thomas University in Miami, Florida, U.S.
She has resided in Miami Beach, Florida since 2003 where she operates her own production company... Voilà.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Art Bell was born on 17 June 1945 in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, USA. He was an actor, known for The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Dark Skies (1996) and I Know Who Killed Me (2007). He was married to Airyn Ruiz and Ramona Bell. He died on 13 April 2018 in Pahrump, Nevada, USA.- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
Character actor Bill Thurman was born on November 4, 1920 in Texas. A large, rugged, stocky man with a hard, lined, puffy face, a deep, twangy, amicable voice, a strong, bulky build, and a charmingly low-key and down-to-earth unaffected natural screen presence, Thurman often portrayed police officers and assorted scruffy redneck types in a huge number of entertainingly cheap'n'cheesy Southern-fried fright flicks and delightfully down'n'dirty drive-in fare made throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Bill frequently acted in features for legendary Grade Z low-budget independent filmmaker Larry Buchanan; said movies include "The Eye Creatures," "High Yellow," "Zontar the Thing from Venus," "Mars Needs Women," "Curse of the Swamp Creature," "In the Year 2889," the especially atrocious "It's Alive!," and "A Bullet for Pretty Boy." Moreover, Thurman had bit parts in two Steven Spielberg films: he's a hillbilly hunter in "The Sugerland Express" and an air traffic controller in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Bill's other memorable roles include the abusive Coach Popper in Peter Bogdanovich's magnificent "The Last Picture Show," a doomed hitchhiker in "Keep My Grave Open," a corrupt sheriff in the Claudia Jennings exploitation classic "'Gatorbait," a mean small town deputy in "Ride in A Pink Car," a more amiable sheriff in the fantastic Bigfoot winner "Creature from Black Lake," Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith's father in "Slumber Party '57," a priest in "The Evictors," and the boozy, dissolute Reverend Bill McWiley in the enjoyably crummy "Mountaintop Motel Massacre." Bill Thurman died in Dallas, Texas on April 13, 1995.- Brian Oulton was born on 11 February 1908 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Carry on Cleo (1964), Carry on Camping (1969) and The Avengers (1961). He was married to Peggy Thorpe-Bates. He died on 13 April 1992 in London, England, UK.
- Actor
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Chi Cheng was born on 15 July 1970 in Davis, California, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Law Abiding Citizen (2009), Valentine (2001) and House of Wax (2005). He died on 13 April 2013 in Sacramento, California, USA.- Claire Gordon died peacefully on 13th April 2015 in a nursing home in Acton, aged 74 years; she was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour in December 2014. At the time she was living in El-gouna, Egypt, but returned to London and underwent an operation at the Charing Cross hospital in January 2015.
- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
American screenwriter and director Don McGuire was was born Don Rose in Chicago on February 28, 1919. He was a former Warner Brothers contract player and Hollywood press agent during the 1940s. He had a background in journalism, having begun his professional life as a reporter for the Hearst press. After four years of military service, he acted on screen in small roles as interns, barmen or drivers. After leaving Warners in 1948, he found good roles hard to come by and ended up being relegated to appearances in second features. Therefore, he decided on becoming a writer of film scripts instead.
During the 1950s, he became best known for adapting Howard Breslin's story "Bad Time at Hondo" into the highly regarded drama Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), with Spencer Tracy. McGuire later worked extensively in television and was writer and co-producer, with Jackie Cooper, of Cooper's series Hennesey (1959). He also had one more big success on the big screen with Tootsie (1982), for which he co-wrote the original story with Larry Gelbart. However, he was not entirely happy with several changes made to his original concept.- Eduardo Galeano was born on 3 September 1940 in Montevideo, Uruguay. He was a writer and actor, known for La vida según Galeano (2013), Huellas del paraíso (1991) and Prohibited Birds (2004). He was married to Graciela Berro Rovira, Silvia Brando and Helena Villagra. He died on 13 April 2015 in Montevideo, Uruguay.
- Francisca Aguirre was born on 27 October 1930 in Alicante, Spain. She was married to Félix Grande. She died on 13 April 2019 in Madrid, Spain.
- Frank Bank was born on 12 April 1942 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Leave It to Beaver (1957), The New Leave It to Beaver (1983) and Life with Archie (1962). He was married to Rebecca Fink, Jeri Lynn Handelman and Marlene Kay Blau. He died on 13 April 2013 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Gareth Thomas was born on 12 February 1945 in Wales, UK. He was an actor, known for Blake's 7 (1978), Torchwood (2006) and Knights of God (1987). He was married to Linda. He died on 13 April 2016 in the UK.
- Gerry Becker was born on 11 April 1951 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Spider-Man (2002), Happiness (1998) and The Game (1997). He died on 13 April 2019 in Nyack, New York, USA.
- Glenna Goodacre was born on 28 August 1939 in Lubbock, Texas, USA. She was married to Cyrus Lee (Mike) Schmidt Jr. and William Goodacre. She died on 13 April 2020 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
- Actress
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Gloria Parker was born on 20 August 1921 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress and composer, known for Broadway Danny Rose (1984), Penthouse Party (1945) and Broadway and Main (1946). She died on 13 April 2022 in Syosset, New York, USA.- He grew up as the son of a merchant family. At the age of 15 he reported for military service in the Second World War. In 1944 he became a member of the Waffen-SS and was stationed in the 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg. After the end of the war he was taken prisoner by the Americans until 1946. Grass then began an apprenticeship as a stonemason. In 1948 he began studying graphics and sculpture at the art academy in Düsseldorf. After completing his studies, he became a visual arts student with the sculptor Karl Hartung in Berlin in 1953. The first exhibitions of his sculptures and graphics followed. In 1954 he married Anna Schwarz. Grass first became active as a writer in 1957. Now he mainly wrote short prose, poems and plays that were poetic and absurd in character. In 1958, Grass received the "Group 47" sponsorship award for his manuscript "The Tin Drum."
Further novels such as "Cat and Mouse" and "Dog Years" were published. His excessive and provocative expression was always evident here, which earned him the reputation of a political moralist. The book "Letters across the border" was published in 1968. Here Grass commented on the topic of the Prague Spring. Further works such as "The Plebeians rehearse the uprising", "Before" and "locally anesthetized" were created. In the course of the student movement, his participation in public protests against the emergency laws increased. In 1972 the story "From the Diary of a Snail" was published. In it, Grass described the 1969 federal election campaign. The epic novel "The Butt" was published in 1977. In 1978 he divorced his wife Anna. In 1979 he married Ute Grunert for the second time. The film adaptation of "The Tin Drum" was also released in 1979 and was directed by Volker Schlöndorff. Mario Adorf, Katharina Thalbach, Otto Sander and Charles Aznavour, among others, played in the film adaptation. In 1980, "The Tin Drum" was awarded an Oscar for "Best Foreign Language Film," making it the first German film to receive this award.
From 1982 to 1993 Grass was a member of the SPD. Through his political activities, his literary work became increasingly popular with the public. In 1983, Grass and other writers, artists and scientists signed the "Heilbronn Manifesto", which called for people to refuse military service because of the stationing of the Pershing-2 rockets. Three years later, in 1986, the book "Die Rattin" was published, which was also made into a film a few years later. In 1987, Grass re-entered political life and took part in the SPD campaign for the state elections in Schleswig-Holstein. The Academy of Arts refused to hold a solidarity event for Salman Rushdie in 1989. Grass resigned from the association for this reason. Grass took the time of German reunification as an opportunity to speak out against "sudden unity based on mere annex Article 23 of the Basic Law". Grass campaigned for a cultural nation growing together. His novel "Prophecies of Doom," published in 1992, also described reconciliation between East and West. A year later, Grass resigned from the SPD because of the change in asylum law supported by social democratic votes. In other novels, such as "A Wide Field" (1995), he repeatedly brought up the problem of German history between the building of the wall and reunification.
In 1997, Grass, together with the SPD, Alliance 90/GREENS and the PDS, called on Helmut Kohl's government to resign. This year, with Egon Bahr, he also founded the "Willy Brandt Circle" for people "who have retained their independence of thought" (quote from Bahr). When the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Turk Yasar Kemal, Grass criticized Kurdish policy. He once again turned against the change in asylum law in the Federal Republic. In 1998, Grass began campaigning for the SPD in the new federal states. In the work "My Century", which he completed in 1999, Grass tells a separate story for each year of this century. On December 10, 1999, Grass was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his life's work. For his services to German-Polish understanding, Grass was awarded the "Gloria Artis" medal in September 2001.
Grass received the Danish Hans Christian Andersen Prize in April 2005. In the same month he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Free University of Berlin. In the run-up to the early federal elections in September 2005, Grass drew attention to himself through his public support of the SPD ruling party, for which he was also able to win over other fellow writers. In the same year, 2005, he founded the authors' circle "Lübeck Literaturtreffen". In 2006, Grass was awarded the "Brücke Prize". In August of the same year he vacated his membership for the first time ft in the Waffen-SS. In previous information he was an anti-aircraft assistant for the Wehrmacht between 1944 and 1945. Günther Grass' clarification was accompanied by great media interest. With the documentary "The Uncomfortable" snapshots of the controversial Nobel Prize winner were released in German cinemas in April 2007.
Günter Grass died on April 13, 2015 in Lübeck. - Harold Bradley was born on 13 October 1929 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Daylight (1996), We Have a Pope (2011) and Hercules Against the Barbarians (1964). He was married to Hannelore Zacharias. He died on 13 April 2021 in Rome, Italy.
- J.K. Rithesh was born in 1973 in Sri Lanka. He was an actor, known for Nayagan (2008), LKG (2019) and Pen Singam (2010). He was married to Jotheeswari. He died on 13 April 2019 in Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nada, India.
- Jacques Blamont was born on 13 October 1926 in Paris, France. He died on 13 April 2020 in Chatillon, Hauts-de-Seine, Ile-de-France, France.
- José Miguel Class was born on 26 September 1938 in Manati, Puerto Rico. He was an actor, known for Yo soy el gallo (1981). He was married to Mariadoni Nazario and Felicita Garcia. He died on 13 April 2017 in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Joseph Bennett was born on 28 March 1968 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Howards End (1992), The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992) and The Last Minute (2001). He was married to Julie Graham. He died on 13 April 2015 in Richmond, Surrey, England, UK.- Joy Laville was born on 8 September 1923 in Ryde, Isle of Wight, England, UK. She was married to Jorge Ibargüengoitia and Kenneth Rowe. She died on 13 April 2018 in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
- Juan Cotino was born on 26 January 1950 in Xirivella, Valencia, Spain.
- Julia Anne Robinson was born on 4 March 1951 in Twin Falls, Idaho, USA. She was an actress, known for The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) and A Fan's Notes (1972). She died on 13 April 1975 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Karl Stegger was one of the greatest Danish actors. Karl Stegger was born: Carl Johan Stegger Sørensen. He later replaced the "c" in his first name with a "k" to further his acting-career. He was born in Aarhus on the January 11th 1911. Stegger was educated at Aarhus theatre, where he was hired as an actor for 5 years until 1951. After 1951 he worked at various theatres all around Denmark. But Karl Stegger was mostly famous for his various, and mostly, bi-roles in Danish films and TV. Karl Stegger had his film debut in 1950 with smaller role in [Smedestræde 4]. Stegger subsequently acted in well over 160 films (almost everyone Danish), where he mostly played down-to-earth and sly types. Stegger seldom had a lead part in any film. He became famous in Denmark when he got the part of the father in the Danish film-series: "Far til Fire" in 1955, after Ib Schønberg died (who originally had the part). Another famous part he had was as the scrap dealer in "Olsen-banden i Jylland" from 1971. In 1971 he got a Danish film-price, a "Bodil", for a role as a real-estate salesman in "Ballade på Christianshavn". In his later years, Stegger became even more famous for his role as the Swedish-consul in the Danish TV-epic "Matador". His last role was in 1980 in "Trællenes børn". Karl Stegger died on the 13th of April 1980, he is buried in Søndermark cemetery, Frederiksberg.- Actor
- Soundtrack
When amiable Columbia Pictures actor Larry Parks was entrusted the role of entertainer Al Jolson in the biopic The Jolson Story (1946), his career finally hit the big time. Within a few years, however, his bright new world crumbled courtesy of the House Un-American Activities Committee after the actor admitted under pressure that he was once affiliated with the Communist Party. Although he unwillingly testified in 1951, he was still (unofficially) blacklisted. Never-say-die Larry managed to continue his career in years to come - both here and abroad, on stage and in nightclubs - alongside steadfast wife Betty Garrett. His film career, however, literally came to a standstill and would never be the same again.
Samuel Klausman Lawrence Parks was born in Olathe, Kansas, on December 13, 1914, of German and Irish descent. As a child growing up in Joliet, Illinois, he was plagued by a variety of illnesses, including rheumatic fever, but persevered with physical exercise and sheer strength of will. Majoring in science at the University of Illinois, his plans to become a doctor dissolved when, to the dismay of his parents, he found a passionate sideline in college dramatics.
He began appearing in touring shows, then made the big move to New York, finding initial employment as an usher at Carnegie Hall and a tour guide at Radio City. Following a number of summer stock shows, he made an inauspicious 1937 Broadway debut with a minor role in the Group Theatre's presentation of "Golden Boy". Developing a close-knit relationship with the Group, he was just beginning to build up his resumé in such Broadway outings as "All the Living", "My Heart's in the Highlands" and "Pure in Heart" when he had to return to his Illinois home following the death of his father.
He toiled for a time in Chicago as a Pullman inspector on the New York Central Railroad until the possibility of a film role had him re-setting his acting sights on Los Angeles. Although the film deal fell through, Larry stayed in L.A. and somehow made ends meet working construction. Columbia expressed interest in the fledgling actor and signed him up in 1941 after a favorable screen test. He stayed for nine years. His buildup was slow-moving, taking his first small step with a minor role in Mystery Ship (1941). Time, however, did not increase the tempo or quality of his movies. Either he was oddly cast, such as his role as an Indian opposite exotic Yvonne De Carlo in The Deerslayer (1943), or completely dismissed, as co-star of such obscurities as The Black Parachute (1944), Sergeant Mike (1944) or She's a Sweetheart (1944).
His association with the Group Theatre back in New York led to a chance introduction to musical actress Betty Garrett and the couple married in 1944. Larry had settled by this time in Hollywood but Betty was a hot item on Broadway. MGM finally offered her a contract and she relocated to Los Angeles to join her husband. The couple eventually had two children, one of whom, Andrew Parks, became a fine actor in his own right. Their other son, Garrett Parks, served as composer for the film Diamond Men (2000).
Larry scored an Oscar nomination playing Jolson (which was originally offered to both James Cagney and Danny Thomas), and hoped for equally challenging roles. His hopes were dashed as the studio instead continued casting him haphazardly in mild-mannered comedies and swashbuckling adventures. Other than the box-office sequel Jolson Sings Again (1949), most of Larry's films were hardly worthy of his obvious talent. To compensate somewhat, he managed to find a creative outlet in summer stock, and both he and Betty put together a successful vaudeville act with one tour ending up playing London's Palladium.
Following the completion of Love Is Better Than Ever (1952) with Elizabeth Taylor, the political scandal erupted and erased all of his chances to do film. One of many casualties of Hollywood "blacklisting", he was forced to end his association with Columbia, and he and Betty, whose own career was damaged, traveled to Europe to find work.
He found some TV parts after the controversy died down, and Betty and Larry were a delightful replacement for Judy Holliday and Sydney Chaplin on Broadway in "Bells Are Ringing". During the many meager times, he concentrated on becoming a successful businessman, including building apartment complexes. He made only two more films, last playing a doctor in the Montgomery Clift starrer Freud (1962). By the time he died of a heart attack on April 13, 1975, at age 60, Larry had long faded from view. Betty, however, managed to revitalize her career on TV sitcoms with regular roles on All in the Family (1971), Laverne & Shirley (1976), and roles on numerous other TV series before passing on February 12, 2011.- Director
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lyndon Chubbuck was a motion picture, television and commercial director and producer. He was also a Commercial and Fine Art Photographer.
Mr. Chubbuck was Co- Chairman of the award winning advertising agency Andrew Janson & Partners, which has produced advertising campaigns for the ACLU, Gianni Versace, Ford Motor Company, Paramount Pictures, AT&T, Rolex, Coke, Ralph Lauren, Anheuser Busch, Apple, Channel, GMC etc.
Previously he worked for MaCann Ericson, most notably for the City of Hope.
He was the Co-Founder and Co-Owner of the prestigious Ivana Chubbuck Studio. The Studio has produced a number of Academy Award, Tony Award and Emmy Award winning actors. The Studio has worked with such actors as: Halle Berry, Brad Pitt, James Franco, Charlize Theron, Chris Pine, Jared Leto, Judith Light among many others.
For his work on films such as William Faulkner's," A Rose For Emily", "The War Bride", "The Right Temptation" and "The Unnaturals", Lyndon won awards or was the official entrant, in more than thirty film festivals including: Toronto International Film Festival, London Film Festival, Commonwealth Film Festival (Gala Opening Presentation), Grand Prize at the Heartland International Film Festival, receiving the first unanimous vote of the selection jury, CineFest (Grand Opening Presentation), Chicago International Film Festival, Hemisfilm and CableACE Awards.
He directed and/or produced for Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, Columbia, Tri-Star and Twentieth Century Fox.
He directed numerous hour-long episodes and pilots of prime-time television CBS, NBC and Fox Network, USA Network, MTV Networks, A & E Network and Starz.- Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
Mariano Mores was born on 18 February 1918 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was an actor and composer, known for Moulin Rouge! (2001), Delicatessen (1991) and La calesita (1963). He was married to Myrna Mores. He died on 13 April 2016 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.- Director
- Writer
Mario David was born on 1 May 1930 in Gonzalez Chavez, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was a director and writer, known for El ayudante (1971), El amor infiel (1974) and La rabona (1979). He died on 13 April 2001 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.- Costume and Wardrobe Department
Mary Quant was born on 11 February 1930 in Blackheath, London, England, UK. She is known for The Haunting (1963), Two for the Road (1967) and Georgy Girl (1966). She was married to Alexander Plunket Greene. She died on 13 April 2023 in Farley Green, Surrey, England, UK.- Actress
Melinda Wayne was born on 3 December 1940 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress. She was married to Gregory Munoz. She died in April 2022.- Michel Bouquet was born in the 14th arrondissement of Paris on the 6 November 1925. His father, Georges Bouquet, was a World War One veteran and a wine-maker. His mother Marie was a milliner. He had three older brothers: Georges, Bernard and Serge. Michel's father was always a shadowy figure in his life: having been deeply affected by the war, he used to talk very little and developed a very distant and estranged relationship with his sons. When he was 7 years old, Michel was sent to the "École Privée Catholique Fénelon", a Catholic boarding school located inside a 17th century hunting lodge in Vaujours. He would keep very unpleasant memories of this period his entire life, describing it as "seven years of darkness and loneliness". Being used to receive corporal punishment or other cruel and unusual forms of penalty for absurd reasons -like keeping his arms crossed in a supposedly insolent way- and to be bullied by older boys, Michel chose to withdraw into himself and dream of exciting, picaresque adventures far away from the school. This approach to life would help him developing his trademark internalized acting style. Repelled by studying, he actually used to enjoy being put in detention, so that he didn't have to mingle with the other boys: the adult Bouquet would later call his younger self "a sweet kid with an anarchic touch". In 1939, Michel came home for the summer with a mediocre school study certificate. He would however never return to the boarding school, since France and England declared war to Germany on the 3rd September. Georges Senior was immediately sent to the front and made a prisoner in Pomerania shortly after. Bernard went to war as well while Georges Jr. had already been sent to a religious school in Carthage. On the 14th June 1940 the German troops entered Paris and Marie soon decided to relocate to Lyon with her two remaining sons. They moved with Michel's paternal aunt, Marguerite. Marie didn't want to be a weight for her sister-in-law, so she spurred her sons to find some work to do. Michel became an errand boy in a bakery: having been toughened by his stay at the boarding school, he now felt ready to help his mother facing the adversities of life and raising the family. When the armistice between France and Germany was signed, Marie and her sons returned to Paris. Michel tried several new jobs in this period, including warehouseman, dental laboratory technician and delivery man in a bank. He was soon, however, to find his real vocation in life. Marie was a great theatre lover and had the habit to bring Michel to see operas, comic operas or great classic plays. He immediately realized that he wanted to be an actor when he saw the legendary Comédie-Française luminary Maurice Escande playing Louis XV in a stage production of "Madame Quinze". So, in May 1943, he decided to look Escande's address on the phone book and, on a Sunday morning, he went to visit him at his place while Marie was attending church. Young Bouquet introduced himself to the actor by telling him that he wanted to work on the stage. Escande asked him if he had memorized a piece to recite. Michel tried the nose monologue from "Cyrano", but the theatre veteran asked him if he hadn't learnt any other thing that suited his physical appearance better. So he started to recite a few verses from Alfred de Musset's "La Nuit de Décembre" instead. After hearing a couple lines only, Escande realized that the young man standing before him possessed enormous gifts and decided to immediately bring him to one of his classes at the Edouard-VII Theatre. There, Michel was allowed to finish the "Nuit de Décembre" monologue in a room full of people. Many students were ready to leave the class with a look of indifference, but Escande reproached them, telling them that they should have better listened to Michel and learnt a lesson from him. Although moved to tears, Michel managed to finish his piece. The great Maurice Escande had named him an actor. At the end of the lesson, Escande brought Michel home and convinced Marie that he had to pursue a stage career.
Bouquet began to learn scenes from many important plays in order to be admitted to the CNSAD (the Paris Conservatoire). When the day of the exam at the Théâtre de l'Odéon finally came, he already knew that only 7 students out of 300 would have been accepted. For his test, he had studied the monologue from Alfred de Vigny's "Chatterton" and one of Smerdiakov's dialogues from Jacques Copeau's "The Brothers Karamazov". The same day, someone else was going to audition in front of the same jury: it was an elegant young man wearing camel, who possessed, in Bouquet's eyes, a certain charm à la Gary Cooper. It was the soon to become legendary Gérard Philipe, who had already made a couple of appearances in acclaimed stage productions and completed his first screen role in Les petites du quai aux fleurs (1944). He was going to play a scene from De Musset's "Fantasio". Bouquet immediately noticed that Philipe projected a great sense of self-confidence, something he himself had always lacked, since he had many perplexities about his physical appearance (he was skeletal at the time) and modest cultural background. At the exam, Philipe and Bouquet managed to scrape through as sixth and seventh respectively. Michel can't even remember who were the five students that were admitted before them, since their careers never went anywhere. He became the pupil of the accomplished stage actress Béatrix Dussane, who had heard some great things about him from Escande and used all of her powers to have him getting admitted.
Bouquet's first stage roles were Damis in Molière's "Tartuffe" and Robespierre in Romain Rolland's "Danton". It was an interesting and indicative starting point to his career, considering that Molière is the author he will always be most associated with and that he would play "The Incorruptible" on several future occasions. After having played roles in "Première Étape" and "Le Voyage de Thésée", he made his first important professional encounter: writer and playwright Albert Camus had witnessed many of his auditions at the "Théâtre de l'Odéon" and he had been so impressed by his skills to offer him the role of Scipio in his upcoming production of "Caligula", which starred Philipe in the title role. Bouquet said that he could do 30 shows only, as he had already signed on to appear in a production of "La Celestine" under Jean Meyer's direction. Camus accepted his conditions since he wanted him to play the role so much. "Caligula" was the only Philipe-Bouquet collaboration, but Michel would go on to see Gérard on stage many times and always kept huge admiration for him along with very fond memories of their relationship. Bouquet's next stage credits were three Jean Anouilh plays directed by André Barsacq (who had personally recommended him to the author): the moderately successful, Shakespeare-inspired "Romeo and Jeannette", "Le Rendez-Vous de Senlis" and "L'Invitation au château". In the first one, Bouquet provided support to stage legends Jean Vilar and María Casares and the "Combat" critic wrote that he towered on the entire cast. Although he was initially irritated by a negative comment made by Michel about the pacing of the play, Anouilh went on to work with the actor on many other occasions. After having made his screen debut as an assassin in the obscure Criminal Brigade (1947), Bouquet was given the role of a tubercular patient in the acclaimed Monsieur Vincent (1947), which was scripted by the author. And a couple of years later, he found his first memorable screen role in another Anouilh-penned movie: Maurice, the twisted (but not evil at heart) brother of the title character in the suggestive and atmospheric White Paws (1949), another remarkable entry by the talented, but often neglected Jean Grémillon. As his character is first seen walking the docks at night, one can already feel a great leading man "allure" à la Jean-Louis Barrault around the emaciated young actor. Interviewed in 2013, Bouquet still remembers this role as one of his favorites. The same year he appeared in Henri-Georges Clouzot's Manon (1949), which was diminished by Cécile Aubry's performance as the title heroine.
For the rest of the 40's and entire 50's, Bouquet mainly kept collaborating on the stage with Anouilh, Camus and his former "Romeo and Jeannette" co-star Jean Vilar, who directed him in several productions, notably Shakespeare's "Henry IV" (as Prince Hal) and "Richard II" (as the Duke of Aumerie), Molière's "Dom Juan" (as Pierrot) and Georg Büchner's "Danton's Death" (as another prominent figure of the French Revolution, Saint-Just). Bouquet really liked Vilar for his talent to pick up his actors. He actually thought that an actor's director should be a person with a great eye for spotting talent and the skill to cast the right person in the right role, but that his input should end there. He didn't enjoy to have his directors telling him to play a part or trying to over-impose their view on the character upon his own. That never happened with Vilar. Anouilh wrote another great role for Bouquet in 1956: the title character in "Pauvre Bitos ou le Dîner de têtes". Bitos is a poor man's Robespierre, a little politician in Post-war France who wants to obtain power even if he doesn't possess the means to do it. The author had created the role specifically for the actor because he had expressed the interest to play "the Incorruptible" once more. In 1951, Bouquet was also seen as Dany Robin's opportunistic brother (again called Maurice) in Anouilh's second (and final) directed feature, Deux sous de violettes (1951), a (mostly) cynical, anti-bourgeois drama. His other film roles from this period include the dim-witted King Louis X in the Dumas adaptation La tour de Nesle (1955) and a Russian revolutionary in the Romy Schneider vehicle Adorable Sinner (1959). He also borrowed his incredible voice to Alain Resnais's hugely acclaimed Holocaust documentary Night and Fog (1956). On the Parisian stage, he tried his hand at directing: first it was a production of "Chatterton" (where he starred with his wife of the time, Ariane Borg), then a revival of George Bernard Shaw's "Heartbreak house" (where Borg was co-director). The shows weren't lauded and he never tried to follow this path again. In TV, he was finally allowed to play Robespierre again in an episode of Stellio Lorenzi's historical series, La caméra explore le temps (1957). The program was focused on the trial of Marie Antoinette and Bouquet's screen time was consequently limited, but there's still enough ground to make a case about the actor being the definitive incarnation of the complex French politician. Bouquet had always been fascinated with the character, imagining him as constantly living in a state of great anguish and anxiety since he probably thought not to possess the cunning of a Mirabeau or the orator skills of a Danton and knew that everyone in those times was expendable. Sympathizing with what "the Incorruptible" must have been feeling in his short, turbulent life, Bouquet created a well-rounded and appropriately indecipherable figure, finding the perfect balance between the cover of impassibility and the neurotic nature of the character. In addition to this, he played the ill-fated King Charles I and Napoleon's jailer, Sir Hudson Lowe, in his two other appearances in Lorenzi's program.
Bouquet's stage work kept offering him a lot of professional satisfactions in the 60's: he expanded his repertoire to 'Eugene Ionesco''s Theatre of the Absurd (his association with the author will also be career-defining) and to several other authors. He was now living an important phase in the history of French theatre, as it was during those years that the stars of the Parisian stage were beginning to discover the great English-language playwrights. In 1965, productions of Harold Pinter's "The Lover" and "The Collection" were staged simultaneously and featured the same, exceptional trio of stars, as Bouquet was teamed up with the brilliant Jean Rochefort and the sublime Delphine Seyrig. Still, it was rare for Michel to feel completely fulfilled, neither in his professional or personal life. His marriage with Ariane had been a mistake (as she had proved, according to his recollections, to be a gold-digging harpy) and he had never managed to re-establish any emotional connection with his father since he had returned from the front. A great perfectionist, he also used to have an high lot of quarrels with his own performances: he felt that his rather ordinary appearance and modest height didn't give him enough 'gravitas' to be a great dramatic actor, was equally skeptical about the quality of his comedic turns and believed that his talents were probably better suited to a genre in the middle, "the dramatic comedy". He often helped himself to get past these dark moments with big quantities of alcohol. One day, after a performance of "The Collection", a single meeting would make his existence change for the better: stage actress Juliette Carré approached him to pay a lot of sincere and heartfelt compliments to his acting in the play. Shortly after, Michel put an end to his marriage with Ariane and, even if it would take years to get an official divorce, he immediately started a family with Juliette and the two sons she had from a previous relationship, Frédéric and Sylvie. Juliette proved to be the perfect mate for Michel in life- as she could understand his introverted nature and accept that he was a solo player- and ideal sparring partner on the stage. He stated himself that he never felt so much at ease at playing opposite anyone as he did with her. In 1965, Bouquet played both on stage and TV a third important member of the French Revolution: Fouquier-Tinville in L'accusateur public (1965). But his golden period as a film actor was about to start. His juicy role as a perverse abbey in This Special Friendship (1964) had already raised his interest in cinema. Now, two of the most representative directors of the French New Wave were to cross their paths with his. His performance as the chief villain in Our Agent Tiger (1965) marked his first collaboration with Claude Chabrol. Unfortunately the film belongs to the long list of bad titles the director did for rather obscure reasons. Bouquet and Chabrol's next journey together was equally unexciting as the thespian's comedic skills were wasted in the supposedly ironic spy story The Road to Corinth (1967), a sub-par product not much dissimilar from the silliest episodes of The Avengers (1961) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964). Luckily, the two men would soon team up again for a better cause. In the mean time, Bouquet kept himself busy by appearing in a couple movies made by the way more consistent François Truffaut. In 1968 he played the role of Coral in The Bride Wore Black (1968) opposite the great Jeanne Moreau in one of her signature roles. The unforgettable masterpiece that would inspire Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" movies sees Moreau's Julie Kohler eliminating with extreme prejudice all the men responsible for the death of her husband. As the second target, Bouquet is the male actor who shines the most. Truffaut enjoyed mocking the actor's melancholic/tormented characterization of Coral, thinking that he should have been more casual and less serious. So he decided to play a mean prank on him when he called him back one year later to support Jean-Paul Belmondo and Catherine Deneuve in the fine Mississippi Mermaid (1969). Bouquet has a couple of scenes in the film as the implacable sleuth Comolli. On the morning of the shooting, he found out that Truffaut had completely changed all his dialogue, something that took him completely off guard. This didn't prevent him from making the most of his little screen time anyway. The same year, he would also find one of his most iconic roles in one of Chabrol's best movies, The Unfaithful Wife (1969). It was the first time he was paired with the director's glacial wife and muse, Stéphane Audran. Like in the case of every other Chabrol-Bouquet-Audran collaboration, Michel provided the acting, while Stéphane just added her very beautiful (but equally motionless) face to the proceedings. Known for his explosive presence on the stage, Bouquet favored, as a film actor, a performing style all about subtleties and psychological introspection: he once said that "stage acting is like the work of an ascensionist; screen acting is like the work of a speleologist". Belonging to that rare breed of actors à la Jean-Louis Trintignant, able to express a world of emotions by simply raising an eyebrow, Bouquet gave a superlative performance as cuckolded husband Charles Desvallees in Chabrol's classic, making his transaction from boring bourgeois type to passionate murderer well-timed, impeccably constructed and absolutely believable and managing at the same time to inject enough humour into his characterization to make the role somehow sympathetic. Chabrol had written the role specifically for him and Bouquet got to admire his working method enormously, later calling him a great actor's director and crediting him for having offered him the possibility to give one of his best performances. Audran's ice maiden act proved somewhat functional to the nature of her character (the bored and adulterous Hélène) and she didn't ruin the movie this time around. The same can't unfortunately be said about the trio's next collaboration, the uneven The Breach (1970). As ex-dancer Hélène Régnier, Stéphane gave one of her very worst performances, walking through the movie without showing any trace of emotion not even when witnessing her little son being thrown around the room by her mentally deranged husband or waiting for the doctors to tell her about his condition. Michel (as Hélène's father-in law Ludovic, a despicable man ready to do everything to prevent her from getting custody of the child), Jean-Pierre Cassel (in the thankless, psychologically absurd role of private eye Paul Thomas) and frequent Chabrol collaborators and great actors Jean Carmet and Michel Duchaussoy formed the rescue team that should have made up for the huge void at the centre of the movie, but the flawed screenplay was conspiring against the success of 'La Rupture' as much as Audran's performance and the end result was rather disappointing.
Bouquet's film career had now taken full flight and, between 1970 and 71, he found several roles that truly showcased his talents. He played a ruthless inspector avenging the death of his partner in The Cop (1970) and a mobster lawyer in the Jean-Paul Belmondo-Alain Delon collaboration Borsalino (1970) (although his role was largely left in the editing room when the movie was originally released, something that made him very distrustful of commercial cinema). One year later, he played a slimy sycophant in Harry Kümel's authorial horror The Legend of Doom House (1971) and found an even better role in another remarkable revenge movie, Countdown to Vengeance (1971). The movie is centered around Serge Reggiani's character, a criminal who, after his release from prison, plans to get revenge on his former associates for having betrayed him. The spectacular supporting cast includes Bouquet, Jeanne Moreau, Simone Signoret and Charles Vanel. Michel got to play the lion's role as a one-eyed villain, constantly wearing black, involved in a mental game of chess with Reggiani for the entire movie. Similarities with 'La Mariée était en noir' are strong and made even more evident by the presence of Moreau and Bouquet. Michel rounded off the year by giving outstanding performances in two Molière plays for TV, Tartuffe (1971) (where he was perfectly matched scene by scene by Delphine Seyrig) and Le malade imaginaire (1971), and playing another of his best film roles, Charles Masson in the vintage Chabrol Just Before Nightfall (1971). The movie is arguably the director's deepest and most complex reflection about the twisted, dark urges hidden in the meanders of human psyche, as repressed bourgeois Charles kills his lover for apparently no reason. Bouquet was simply mesmerizing in the part and owned every celluloid frame of the movie, making the viewer feel the character's torment on every moment and perfectly follow his inner path (from his sense of guilt to his desire to be punished): all of this in the subtlest, least showy way as possible. As his wife Hélène, Audran did near to nothing in the film: in the scene where Bouquet confesses his crime to her, Chabrol just filmed her reaction from behind (therefore releasing her from any acting duty) and, when he has his thrilling final monologue about his wish to atone, she just listens to him, completely frozen, and restricts herself to put a hand on her mouth once he announces his intention to give himself up. "Juste avant la nuit" was released in the UK only in 1973 and BAFTA hit an all-time low by ignoring Bouquet's performance, but bestowing a Best Actress Award to Audran for her minimal work in the movie added to her supporting turn in The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) (where she was easily the least talented main player).
Galvanized by the quality of his recent body of film work, Bouquet took a 5 years break from the stage (the longest he ever did) to do more movies. Unfortunately, most of the roles he found in this period proved totally unworthy of his skill: Bons baisers... à lundi (1974) (one of Michel Audiard's several dismal attempts at directing) was particularly unremarkable. Nadine Trintignant's Défense de savoir (1973) put together such wonderful performers as Bouquet, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Bernadette Lafont, Juliet Berto and Charles Denner and couldn't make an interesting use of any of them. It was clear to Michel that things couldn't go on like this and that's the reason he headed back to theatre so soon. His other film roles that stand out in the 70's are a detestable policeman in Two Men in Town (1973) with Delon and Jean Gabin, a ruthless newspaper director and unsentimental father in The Toy (1976), a sculptor pretending to go blind in Vincent mit l'âne dans un pré (et s'en vint dans l'autre) (1975) and particularly a drug lord in Alain Corneau's bizarre, but ultimately involving sci-fi feature, France société anonyme (1974). Despite having always publicized his lack of athletic skills, he gave a great lesson in physical acting in the latter. He also started to direct his talents towards the small screen and Gabriel Axel offered him the possibility of giving two particularly memorable performances. The first was as painter Rembrandt van Rijn in La ronde de nuit (1978). The second was in the Balzac adaptation Le curé de Tours (1980) as the backstabbing Abbey Troubet, a vile man who ruins the life of Jean Carmet's passive title character with the help of a deliciously serpentine Suzanne Flon. He also appeared in Les nuits révolutionnaires (1989) (a mini-series set during the French Revolution) and played Ebenezer Scrooge in a 1984 version of "A Christmas Carol", winning a 7 d'or (a French Emmy) for his performance. His stage work from the 80's include playing Harpagon in "the Miser"- which invited the comment 'Whoever hasn't seen Bouquet in The Miser hasn't seen The Miser'- and appearing in a Chabrol-directed production of Strindberg's "The Dance of Death", which was later filmed. A stage production of "Macbeth" opposite his wife was very unsuccessful and he bode farewell to Shakespeare for good. Bouquet's most important film achievement from this decade is undoubtedly playing the immortal role of Inspector Javert in Robert Hossein's Les Misérables (1982) (released both as a 4 part mini-series and feature film). Although this version (like nearly every other) couldn't completely do justice to the spirit of Hugo's novel, the portrayals of the main characters are arguably definitive, from Lino Ventura's interpretation of Jean Valjean to Jean Carmet's César-winning performance as Thénardier and of course Bouquet's ascension to King of Javerts. Michel possessed the "physique du rôle" that the larger than life Charles Laughton lacked in the 1935 film, was infinitely subtler than the likes of Hans Hinrich and Robert Newton were in their respective outings, had more scope to express himself than the well-cast Anthony Perkins and Geoffrey Rush had in their mediocre vehicles and any comparison between his work and Russell Crowe's acting/singing performance in the 2012 musical would almost be sadistic. Many people in France strictly associate Bouquet with this part. His second most notable film role from the 80's is a creepy notary in Chabrol's poorly paced and constructed Cop Au Vin (1985), which was Jean Poiret's first outing as Inspector Lavardin. Apart from acting, Bouquet was very busy teaching the craft at the CNSAD during those years. Despite his modest studies, he had gradually become an immensely cultured man within the decades, having traveled a lot and grown a great interest towards literature, music and the figurative arts. These interests were also the reason that lead him to play real-life artists on several occasions.
Bouquet was seldom seen on the silver screen in the 90's, but, when he was, he most certainly lingered in memory. In 1991 he appeared in the much lauded Toto the Hero (1991) as the oldest incarnation of the title character. The movie starts with little Thomas dealing with all the adversities of life by dreaming of an alter ego living all kinds of exciting adventures (something reminiscent of what Michel himself had gone through during his childhood) to eventually see him turning into an unhappy, disenchanted man ready to do the most extreme and unimaginable thing to get even with the rival of a lifetime. Bouquet also borrowed his voice to actor Jo De Backer, who played his younger adult self. His performance helped him cementing his status as a crucial figure of European cinema and won him the EFA (European Film Award) for Best Actor. The same year he also played painter Laubin Baugin in Corneau's best movie, Tous les matins du monde (1991), while in 1993 he narrated Chabrol's well-made documentary The Eye of Vichy (1993) (a compilation of official newsreels originally broad casted in Nazi-occupied France). Bouquet's theatre highlights from this period include playing for the first time King Bérenger I in Ionesco's "Exit the King" (his portrayal of the character remains one of his most celebrated triumphs) and appearing alongside the great Philippe Noiret in Bertrand Blier's "Les Côtelettes". His performance in this play won him his first Molière (France's prestigious stage award founded in 1987).
Even greater things were waiting for Bouquet in the 2000s: he accepted very few roles, but they were the best any actor could dream of. Having seen a performance of "Les Côtelettes" on the Parisian stage, Italian novelist and occasional director Roberto Andò chose him to play the role of writer Tomasi di Lampedusa in his very interesting feature Il manoscritto del principe (2000). Having now reached the apex of his acting technique and maturity, Bouquet gave the first of a series of absolutely essential performances. Although he somehow regretted that he couldn't cast an Italian actor in the role, Andò stated that he couldn't possibly imagine the Lampedusa role played by anyone else. In 2001, Bouquet was given the complex, multi-dimensional role of estranged father Maurice in Anne Fontaine's noteworthy How I Killed My Father (2001). Michel had a great understanding of the central relationship between his own character and Charles Berling's bitter son as it mirrored in some ways the one he had with his own father, to whom he had started to feel a bit closer long after his death. Inspired by Fontaine's direction (he credits her for having taught him a more relaxed approach to characters), the actor gave life to a rather sinister, but eventually very poignant figure. At age 76 he was nominated for his first César and won it. In 2003, Blier turned his stage success into a major feature with Les côtelettes (2003) and recast Noiret and Bouquet in their original roles, a man who has trouble defecating and a mysterious character who must help him doing it. Although the movie is pretentious and often off-colour, the central performances of the two acting giants are all to be savored. Michel's next film appearance was as the title role in L'après-midi de monsieur Andesmas (2004), an adaptation of the Marguerite Duras novel by the same name. He was already familiar with the text, but he had always found it to be a bit unclear, albeit impressive. He had, however, far less difficulties in penetrating the deeper meanings of the story once he read the script by the movie's director, Michelle Porte, who had started her career as a second assistant director to Duras herself in Baxter, Vera Baxter (1977). The film follows Monsieur Andesmas, who has just bought a house for his daughter, as he waits for the arrival of a mysterious businessman, Michel Arc, who never shows up. This shadowy character can be interpreted as a representation of many things: Bouquet saw him as an emissary of death as he imagined Monsieur Andesmas' afternoon to be his last one. The actor had all the vital characteristics of the quintessential Duras protagonist, being multi-layered, introvert and provided with the impeccable diction and thousand vocal inflections that are indispensable to give power to the great author's affecting, literary lines of dialogue. Aided by an excellent Miou-Miou as Michel Arc's wife, he gave one of his most touching performances and one that appears to follow a recent pattern: all his latest movies seem to deal with the theme of the end of life, either in an explicit or a veiled way. He carried on this tradition when he next appeared in The Last Mitterrand (2005), playing President Mitterrand when death's approaching him. An unusually good biopic, the film showed a more private dimension and different image of Mitterrand, so that Bouquet didn't really have to live up to people's common perception of the President: consequently, he managed to give a very complex and involving portrayal of a man opposed to the sheer exercise in mimicry and acting virtuosity that one usually expects from this kind of picture. Again he was heart-breaking, again he received a César nomination and again he won. After this new triumph, Bouquet grew more and more selective of film roles, basically declining every script that was sent to him. Like in the case of Mesdames Fontaine and Porte, it was again a duo of female directors, Swiss actresses Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond, to win his attention. Having eventually managed to find Bouquet's phone number (he doesn't have an agent), the two girls offered him the leading male role in their debut feature film, the little gem The Little Bedroom (2010). Bouquet adored the script and was pleasantly surprised that such young ladies could have written a story that was such a beautiful reflection on old age. He consequently played the role of Edmond, a sad, lonely man who gets treated with neglect by his son and progressively develops a warm relationship with his carer (Florence Loiret Caille). He again put body and soul in a project meant to give dignity to the last days on earth of a common man. During the course of the decade, Bouquet also kept to assiduously work on the stage, notably in revivals of "Exit the King", "The Imaginary Invalid" and the "Miser", all directed by Jacques Werler. He received splendid support by wife Juliette in the first two, which were filmed. His incredible performance as Bérenger in the Ionesco play will forever help people who never had the honor of seeing him on the stage to understand what kind of chameleon he was as a theatrical actor. He won his second Molière for his work in this production.
A late highlight in Bouquet's silver screen career was his performance as Pierre-Auguste Renoir in Renoir (2012), an account of the relationship between the great painter and his son Jean, the future genius of cinema. Michel thought that Gilles Bourdos's script possessed the necessary grace to speak about some rather obscure themes. He had always considered painting the most sublime of arts and, while studying the Renoir character, he found himself relating to his "nature-immersed" side above all. Although not as Bouquet-centered as one would have wished it to be, the film still offered the great thespian the possibility to shine and won him a third César nomination for Best Actor.
Bouquet's commitment to his stage activity was something that could hardly find a proper match among future generations of actors, approaching it like a sacred path as a missionary of sorts would do (his acting pupil Fabrice Luchini would indeed compare him to a monk). Having first announced his retirement from the theatre world in 2011, he couldn't couldn't keep his word, as his bond to the theatre in general and 'Exit the King' in particular proved to be just too strong: in 2013 he did a special performance of the play during the prestigious Ramatuelle festival and, in early 2014, brought the production back to the Parisian stage for a limited season. He later played conductor and composer Wilhelm Furtwängler in a production of Ronald Harwood, winning once again a lot of admiration alongside a final Molière nom, and said at one point he would never quit the boards. His final theatrical role was as Orgon in a new production of Tartuffe directed by his great admirer Michel Fau, who also played the title role that had once been a defining one for Bouquet: the marketing and promotion of the show was largely centered around the latter's legendary persona, and the Crystal Globes gave him yet another laurel as the best stage actor of 2017, as a further testament to his evergreen core essentiality to the Parisian stage's life. In late 2018, it was announced that Bouquet would play the role of Albert Einstein in the play "Le case Eduard Einstein", focused on the relationship between the great scientist and his schizophrenia-stricken son. He did, however, withdraw from the project shortly after, also announcing his retirement from the stage for good this time, stating he was feeling too tired and devoid of the needed energy to approach this new challenge, and later adding that he already felt as if he "had done everything he could".
Michel Bouquet peacefully passed away on the 13 April 2022: interestingly enough, it was the year that marked the fourth centenary of the birth of Molière. A veritable national treasure by then, he was proudly and fondly saluted by countless leading figures of France's artistic and politic world. Most people would say he had the right to consider himself satisfied with his career like very few can. Probably no other actor of his generation could find equally memorable film roles in the new millennium. Having appeared in at least one play a year in the 70 years period between 1944 and 2017 (with very few breaks in between), he had put together one of the most impressive stage resumes ever. And not many can say to be as respected as he was by the public, the critics and their peers. However, the master thespian himself was never one to take anything for granted: earlier in his life, he had mentioned how he envisioned his actor's journey as being, for the most part, a sort of training until a final act where he could play a few roles very well. Still, taking into account the way he'd been able, even in the end, to satisfyingly eviscerate multiple roles that marked some of his most celebrated triumphs-- such as the King Bérenger one which he played over 800 times-- one can imagine with justified optimism that, by that time, Michel Bouquet would no longer be extraneous with that total sense of commitment he'd been entitled to for a very long time: he finally accomplished everything a dedicated actor of his kind could, leaving a legacy that couldn't be truer to the principles and goals of one who did value and envision his profession in such a way.
The King may have exited our stage now, but he did so while wearing his well-earned crown. - Director
- Writer
- Actor
Milos Forman was born Jan Tomas Forman in Caslav, Czechoslovakia, to Anna (Svabova), who ran a summer hotel, and Rudolf Forman, a professor. During World War II, his parents were taken away by the Nazis, after being accused of participating in the underground resistance. His father died in Mittelbau-Dora, a sub camp of Buchenwald, and his mother died in Auschwitz, at which Milos became an orphan very early on. He studied screen-writing at the Prague Film Academy (F.A.M.U.). In his Czechoslovakian films, Black Peter (1964), Loves of a Blonde (1965), and The Firemen's Ball (1967), he created his own style of comedy. During the invasion of his country by the troops of the Warsaw pact in the summer of 1968, to stop the Prague spring, he left Europe for the United States. In spite of difficulties, he filmed Taking Off (1971) there and achieved his fame later with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) adapted from the novel of Ken Kesey, which won five Oscars, including one for best direction. Other important films of Milos Forman were the musical Hair (1979) and his biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Amadeus (1984), which won eight Oscars.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Moraes Moreira was born on 8 July 1947 in Ituaçu, Bahia, Brazil. He was a composer and actor, known for Woman on Top (2000), Eu Transo, Ela Transa (1972) and I Love You (1986). He died on 13 April 2020 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Neus Català was born on 6 October 1915 in Els Guiamets, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. She was married to Albert Roger and Félix Sancho. She died on 13 April 2019 in Els Guiamets, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain.
- Patricia Millardet was born on 24 March 1957 in Mont-de-Marsan, Landes, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. She was an actress, known for La piovra (1984), Le chevalier de Pardaillan (1988) and Deadly Circuit (1983). She was married to Randy Casterman. She died on 13 April 2020 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.
- Pierre Ebert was born on 10 September 1938 in Québec, Canada. He was an actor and writer, known for Les Bougon: C'est aussi ça la vie (2004), Le zoo du Capitaine Bonhomme (1964) and Le siège de l'âme (1997). He died on 13 April 2020 in Québec, Canada.
- Quentin Fiore was born on 12 February 1920 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. Quentin was a writer, known for NBC Experiment in Television (1967). Quentin died on 13 April 2019 in North Canaan, Connrcticut, USA.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
A gaunt, intense character actor of striking presence, Richard Gibbon Hurndall was educated at Scarborough College and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He acted professionally from 1930, initially in repertory theatre and later with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, his roles including Orlando in "As You Like It", Bassanio in "The Merchant of Venice" and Laertes in "Hamlet". Richard's powerful voice and precise diction were also perfectly suited to working in radio. Between 1949 and 1952, he was a member of the BBC radio drama repertory company. In October 1958, he took over as host of Radio Luxemburg's half-hour British version of Edward R. Murrow's "This I Believe". A year later, he was well cast as Sherlock Holmes in a BBC radio adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Sign of Four", transmitted over five weekly episodes.
From 1946, Hurndall made sporadic television appearances, but did not fully take to the medium until the mid 1960's. His incisive personality, combined with a natural ability to adopt diverse accents and dialects, led to him being cast as doctors, magistrates, aristocrats, and other authority figures of various ethnic backgrounds. By contrast, he was equally effective as a debonair underworld figure, Henry Mackleson, in Spindoe (1968). On the humorous side, he essayed a campy, effete antiques dealer in an episode of Steptoe and Son (1962) ("Any Old Iron?"); and alternated being sinister and droll, as Carne, a German general masterminding a rather unusual invasion of a Cornish fishing village at the onset of World War I, in the hilariously funny Ripping Yarns (1976) adventure, "Whinfrey's Last Case" .
His best known role was also destined to be one of his last. On the strength of his appearance in an episode of Blake's 7 (1978), Hurndall was cast as the First Doctor (formerly played by the late William Hartnell) in the 1983 feature length Doctor Who (1963) reunion special The Five Doctors (1983). The series' continuity adviser, Ian Levine, had spotted a resemblance between the two actors, an opinion with which Hartnell's widow apparently concurred. By his own admission, Hurndall entered the project with a measure of ambiguity, having had limited exposure to science fiction, or Doctor Who (1963), for that matter. Ultimately, he conformed perfectly to Hartnell's precise idiosyncratic mannerisms and intonation - a performance which proved more than adequate to the original. Sadly, Hurndall died within a few months of The Five Doctors (1983) going to air.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Ronnie Carroll was born on 18 August 1934 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. He was an actor, known for Man in the Dark (1964), Remember a Day (2000) and Eurovision Song Contest 1962 (1962). He was married to June Paul, Millicent Martin and Glenda Kentridge. He died on 13 April 2015 in Hampstead, London, England, UK.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Rudolf Hrusínský was born on 17 October 1920 in Nový Etynk-Vcelnice, Czechoslovakia [now Nová Vcelnice, Czech Republic]. He was an actor and director, known for The Cremator (1969), The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians (1981) and Pancho se zení (1946). He died on 13 April 1994 in Prague, Czech Republic.- Soundtrack
Ryo Kawasaki was born on 25 February 1947 in Koenji, Tokyo, Japan. He died on 13 April 2020 in Tallinn, Estonia.- Animation Department
- Art Department
Ann Sullivan, an animator and ink-and-paint artist who worked on iconic films of the Disney Renaissance. Born in Fargo, North Dakota, followed her sister Helen to California, and after studying at the Art Center in Pasadena, landed a job at Walt Disney in the animation paint lab in the early 1950s. After a work hiatus - Ann was starting a family of four children - in 1973 she fought her way back into the business, at first at Filmation Hanna Barbera. But all she ever wanted to do was work at the Walt Disney Studios, and she did.
Ann rejoined the animation department in time to paint and ink on such Disney classics as The Little Mermaid, The Lion King and Lilo & Stitch. Stunningly, late in her career, she made the switch to computerized animated production at Disney until her retirement in the early 2000s.
Nick named "Giggles', You couldn't help but fall in love with her laugh. She had the best laugh of any person, Ann didn't just laugh with a sound. When she giggled, her whole body would shake and light up with joy, and it was contagious for everyone in the room.- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sarah Maldoror is the author of some forty films making up a multiple and rebellious work, made of fiction, documentary and poetry, and interpreted by a war song: the short film Monangambée, shot in 1969 in Algiers where she was then living, which evokes the torture by the Portuguese colonial army of a sympathizer of the struggle for the liberation of Angola, visited in prison by his company.
Before becoming a pioneer of pan-African cinema, Sarah Maldoror lived part of her youth in Paris where, passionate about theater and received at the school in rue Blanche (according to her friend, the future Ivorian filmmaker Timité Bassori, they are among the first black students to enter), she co-founded in 1956 with the same Bassori, Toto Bissainthe, Ababacar Samb Makharam and Robert Liensol the company Les Griots, which became the first black theater company in France. The Tragedy of King Christophe by Aimé Césaire and Les Nègres by Jean Genet (directed by Roger Blin) are among the plays created by the troupe, which Maldoror presides for a time, with the material help and intellectual support of Alioune Diop, founder in 1947 of the important Parisian anti-colonialist review Présence africaine.
In 1961, Sarah Maldoror left France and went to study at the VGIK, the Moscow film school, before joining the African decolonization movements (in Algeria, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau) with her companion Mario Pinto de Andrade, whom he met in Paris and co-founder of the Movement for the Liberation of Angola, in exile during the war of independence (1961-1975) against the Portuguese metropolis.
It was in Algiers, where she settled in 1966, that she made her debut on the cinematographic front of the anti-colonial struggles: assistant on the Battle of Algiers by Gillo Pontecorvo (1966) and Pan-African Festival of Algiers 1969, documentary by William Klein, she quickly made her first film, followed by a lost film shot in Guinea-Bissau and a first "fiction" feature film, Sambizanga (1972). Filmed in the Republic of Congo, based on an Angolan novel by José Luandino Vieira, adapted by his companion Pinto de Andrade with the French writer Maurice Pons, Sambizanga takes place in 1961 and describes the repression of the Angolan Liberation Movement from point of view of Maria, wife of a revolutionary activist imprisoned and tortured by the Portuguese army, who sets out to find him across the country. Shot with real actors from the struggle then in progress, and one of the first African films directed by a woman in the history of cinema, Sambizanga remains seen and visible today - it is easily found on the Internet.
Leaving Algeria following a disagreement with the hierarchy of the FLN in power (some sources mention that she was imprisoned and then expelled from the country), Sarah Maldoror settled in France, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis ), and continues to make films. His work includes documentaries (shot in Seine-Saint-Denis, Martinique, Guyana or Cape Verde for Fogo, the island of fire in 1978) and numerous portraits of artists and writers (the poets Léon Gontran-Damas, Aimé Césaire, Assia Djebar, René Depestre or Louis Aragon, singer Toto Bissainthe, musician Archie Shepp). Visible on the site of the CNRS video library, a 1974 short film, And the Dogs Are Silenced, shot in the reserves of the Musée de l'homme dedicated to objects from black Africa, adapted from extracts from the play of the same name by Aimé Césaire, with the actor Gabriel Glissant (seen in Soleil O du grand Med Hondo) and the filmmaker herself in the role of the revolutionary's mother, dressed in an ironic white scientific coat. But if there is a science of revolt, Sarah Madoror will have written, shot, played and some of the greatest pages. We hear more than twice, everywhere behind the scenes of the Musée de l'Homme, the sound of fire.
She died in April 2020 as a result of Covid-19. In November 2021, "Sarah Maldoror, Cinéma Tricontinental" presented by the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, is a retrospective of her work, her life and her political commitment. The exhibition extends to the Musée de l'Homme, the Museum of the History of Immigration and the Museum of Art and History Paul Éluard in Saint-Denis.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Stephen Stucker was a marvelously wild and dynamic free-spirited actor who specialized in deliciously broad portrayals of memorably outrageous characters in a handful of comedies made in the 70's and 80's. Stucker was born on July 2, 1947 in Des Moines, Iowa. He attended Lincoln School in Alameda, California. During his school days Stephen was known as both an accomplished pianist and a class clown with a dry wit. Stucker made his film debut with a funny turn as crazed asylum escapee Bruce Wilson in the entertainingly lowbrow "Carnal Madness." He was likewise sidesplitting as a cross-dressing court stenographer in "The Kentucky Fried Movie." Stephen achieved his greatest enduring popularity with his gloriously zany and unforgettable performance as loopy airport control room worker Johnny in the hilarious disaster picture parody "Airplane!." Stucker reprised this role in "Airplane II: The Sequel" and had an amusing bit as a train stationmaster in "Trading Places." Stephen appeared in three episodes of the hit TV series "Mork & Mindy." Besides "The Kentucky Fried Movie" and "Airplane!," Stucker also worked with the comedy team of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker as a member of the theatrical group the Kentucky Fried Theater. Stephen Stucker died at the tragically young age of 38 from AIDS on April 13, 1986.- Actress
- Soundtrack
The enigmatic actress remains one of the most interesting figures in German film. Although she achieved stardom early in her career, the tragic Sybille Schmitz could never fit in with her surroundings. Too "alien looking" for Hollywood, Schmitz never migrated to America like her more glamorous peers and began losing roles in her native Germany as well due to her vaguely Semitic appearance and ties to the Jewish community. After the war, like many former UFA stars, Sybille was seen as a painful reminder of the Third Reich and she was once more displaced by the optimistic "new look" actresses. With acting being her sole reason to thrive, Sybille Schmitz began to drink heavily and rely on drugs as her career sank lower and lower. She finally committed suicide under mysterious circumstances on April 13, 1955, while being "cared for" by a corrupt lesbian doctor she was living with at the time of her death.- Tony Buzan was born on 2 June 1942 in Palmers Green, Middlesex, England, UK. He died on 13 April 2019.
- Writer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
William Nack was born on 10 February 1941 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Secretariat (2010), Rocky Marciano (1999) and The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame... (1999). He was married to Carolyne Starek and Mary Scott. He died on 13 April 2018 in Washington, D.C., USA.