Philippe Noiret

Philippe Noiret
Spouse	Monique Chaumette (1962-2006)

Philippe Noiret (1 October 1930 – 23 November 2006) was a French film actor.

Biography

Noiret was born in Lille in northern France.

He failed several times to pass his baccalauréat exams, so he decided to study theater. He trained at the Centre Dramatique de l'Ouest and toured with the Théâtre National Populaire for seven years. There, he met his wife Monique Chaumette, whom he married in 1962. At the same time, he developed a career as a nightclub comedian in a duo act with Jean-Pierre Darras, in which he played Louis XIV in an extravagant wig opposite Darras as the dramatist Jean Racine. In these roles they made fun of the politics of Charles de Gaulle, Michel Debré and André Malraux.

Noiret debuted on the screen in 1949 in an uncredited role in Gigi. In 1956 he appeared in La Pointe Courte directed by Agnès Varda. He was not cast again until 1960 in Zazie dans le métro. After his role in Thérèse Desqueyroux in 1962, he became a regular on the French screen, without being cast in major roles until La Vie de château directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau in 1966. He became a star in France with Alexandre le Bienheureux in 1967. At this point, he started to devote himself entirely to the screen.

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

Noiret was cast primarily as the Everyman character, although he did not hesitate to accept controversial roles, such as in La Grande Bouffe, a film about suicide by overeating, which caused a scandal at Cannes in 1973.

Noiret won his first César Award for Vieux Fusil in 1976. His second César came in 1990 for La Vie et rien d'autre.

A true international star, thanks in no small part to his fluency in English, Noiret appeared in Hollywood-financed films by Alfred Hitchcock (Topaz), George Cukor (Justine), Ted Kotcheff (Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?), Peter Yates (Murphy's War) and Anatole Litvak (The Night of the Generals). But he arguably is best known for his roles as Alfredo in Cinema Paradiso, Pablo Neruda in Il Postino, and Major Dellaplane in Bertrand Tavernier's Life and Nothing But.

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

Awards

• César Award for Best Actor
  • 1976 - Le Vieux Fusil
  • 1990 - La Vie et rien d'autre

Filmography (partial)

Title	Year	Notes
Gigi	1949
Olivia	1950
Agence matrimoniale	1952
La Pointe courte	1956	Also known as The Short Point, with Agnès Varda
Zazie dans le métro	1960	Also known as Zazie in the Metro or Zazie, directed by Louis Malle
Le Capitaine Fracasse	1961
Comme un poisson dans l'eau	1962	English title: Like a Fish in the Water
Le Crime ne paie pas	1962
Thérèse Desqueyroux	1962
Les Copains	1964	English title: The Buddies
La Vie de château	1965	English title: Castle Life
Tendre voyou	1966
Alexandre le bienheureux	1967
Night of the Generals	1967
Topaz	1969	L'Étau, by Alfred Hitchcock
Clérambard	1969	Played as Hector de Clérambard
Mr. Freedom	1969
Murphy's War	1971
La Mandarine	1971
La Vieille Fille	1972
La Grande Bouffe	1973	Played as Philippe
Don't Touch the White Woman!	1974
The Clockmaker	1974
Amici miei	1975
Le vieux fusil	1975
Que la fête commence	1975	English title: Let Joy Reign Supreme
Une Femme à sa Fenêtre	1976	English title: A Woman With Her Window
Un taxi mauve	1977	English title: The Purple Taxi
Tendre Poulet	1977
Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?	1978
Le Témoin	1978	English title: The Witness
Pile ou face	1980
On a volé la cuisse de Jupiter	1980
Tre fratelli	1981	English title: Three Brothers
L'étoile du nord	1982	English title: North Star
Amici Miei, Atto II	1982
Coup de Torchon	1981
Souvenirs souvenirs	1984
Les Ripoux	1984	English title: My New Partner
Amici Miei, Atto III	1985
L'Eté prochain	1985	English title: The Next Summer
La Famille	1986	English title: The Family
Masques	1987	English title:Masks
The Return of the Musketeers	1989
Ripoux contre ripoux	1989
Nuovo Cinema Paradiso	1989
J'embrasse pas	1991	English title: I Do Not Kiss
Uranus	1991
Tango	1992
Il Postino	1994
Max et Jérémie		English title: Max and Jérémie
La Fille de d'Artagnan	1994	English title: The Daughter of d'Artagnan
Marianna Ucria
Soleil	1997	English title: Sun
Le Pique-nique de Lulu Kreutz	1999	English title: The Picnic with Lulu Kreutz
Les Côtelettes	2002	English title: The Chops
Père et fils	2002
Ripoux 3	2003
Voie d'eau	2006	English title: Swimming Away

External links

• Philippe Noiret at IMDb
• Guardian obituary
• Times obituary

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