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Photo of Robert Castel

Robert Castel

Actor, Writer, Additional Credits
Born May 21, 1933Died December 5, 2020 (87 years)
Robert Castel (in Arabic: روبرت كاستل), whose real name is Robert Adolphe Moyal, is an actor, musician and comedian, born on May 21, 1933 in Algiers in the Bab El-Oued district, Algeria.

Robert Castel began as a musician, tar player, then guitarist, accompanying his father, composer violinist, and singer of light French-Arab songs. Young actor in the troupe of the Regional Center of Dramatic Art of Algiers, Robert Castel plays the role of Robert Le Bègue in the theatrical improvisation show on the life of the pieds-noirs, La Famille Hernandez, which is created by Geneviève Baïlac on September 17, 1957 in Paris. Having cut his teeth in music hall, Robert Castel began his film career at the age of 24 in Les Amants De Demain by Marcel Blistène, then in Un témoin dans la ville by Édouard Molinaro.

In 1962, Robert Castel left the newly independent Algeria and settled in Paris with Lucette Sahuquet (who died in 1987), whom he married. The couple inaugurated their sketches as a duo that year, notably at the Olympia where they opened for Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich and Philippe Clay. In the 1970s, the comedian, lively and provocative, did a lot of television sketches with his favorite partner and Enrico Macias. For the big screen, this dark-haired comedian, with a clear forehead, who speaks with his hands, abandoned his favorite register. Having become the figure of "pied-noir humor" in France, he played alongside Edith Piaf in Les Amants de demain by Marcel Blistène, Pierre Richard in Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire by Yves Robert, and Isabelle Huppert in Dupont Lajoie by Yves Boisset. In 1982, he made a notable appearance in Algerian cinema by playing in Hassan taxi, directed by Mohamed Slim Riad, alongside Rouiched (Ahmed Ayad), Ouardia Hamitouche and Sidali Kouiret. He appeared in more than thirty films in total, until the early 2000s.

Robert Castel kept a low profile for a few years before returning to the stage, this time in a musical, in 2007 thanks to the El-Gusto project. This project, which seeks to bring together Algerian, Jewish and Muslim musicians who were part of Hadj M'hamed El Anka's Algiers Chaâbi orchestra in the early 1950s, resulted in a documentary film that won international awards, the recording of an album and an international tour that took a troupe of 42 musicians to countries such as France, Morocco, Tunisia, Switzerland, Belgium, the United States and the Netherlands.

In 2008, Robert Castel signed his autobiography, Je pose 75 [son âge], mais je retaîtres tout. He returned to the stage in 2013 to present his last one-man show, "Nostalgérie". He died on December 5, 2020 in Paris, at the age of 87.

Known For

  • The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe
  • I'm Shy, But I'll Heal
  • The Unvanquished
  • The Common Man
  • El Gusto
  • Let's Make a Dirty Movie
  • Du jour au lendemain
  • C'est facile et ça peut rapporter... 20 ans
  • The Suburbs Are Everywhere
  • Stop Fooling Around... Soldier!
  • Le permis de conduire
  • It's Tough for Everybody
  • The Sandmen
  • Par le sang des autres
  • Shut Up, Gulli
  • Take It from the Top
  • Les prédateurs
  • Les Saintes Chéries
  • Le Lit... Ze Bawdy Bed
  • Sacrés gendarmes

Filmography

2016
The Jews · as M. Bensoussan
2011
El Gusto · as Le Comédien
2011
Teenagers · as Pierre
2007
Les prédateurs (TV Series) · as André Guelfi
2007
The Elf Case · as André Guelfi
2006
Du jour au lendemain · as M. Plisson
2005
2004
Plus Belle La Vie (TV Series) · as Henri Laroque
2002
Shooting Stars · as L'entraîneur
2000
The Sandmen · as Damien
1996
Sous le soleil (TV Series) · as Docteur Leduc
1983
1983
Le braconnier de Dieu · as Le Patron Du Bistrot
1981
Schools Falling Apart · as Le Prof D'anglais
1980
1980
Sacrés gendarmes · as Gendarme Moreno
1980
Les Borsalini · as Mohamed Rico
1978
I'm Shy, But I'll Heal · as Trinita, Le Joueur De Pétanque
1978
Take It from the Top · as Le Plombier
1977
1976
1976
Short and Sweet · as Hubert Lacagne
1975
It's Tough for Everybody · as Monsieur Gilles
1975
The Common Man · as Loulou
1974
Shut Up, Gulli · as Antoine
1974
Le Lit... Ze Bawdy Bed · as Monsieur Albert, Le Directeur De L'hôtel
1974
1974
Le permis de conduire · as L'agent De Police
1973
Two Men in Town · as André Vaultier
1973
Le complot · as Sapporo
1973
1972
The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe · as Georghiu, Milan Agent
1972
Cops Is Cops · as Rodriguez, Manoni's Man
1971
La ville-bidon · as Le Pied-Noir
1970
The One Man Band · as Un Agent
1969
Les gros malins · as Agent At The Police Station (uncredited)
1968
Les Compagnons de Baal (TV Series) · as Cast
1967
An Idiot in Paris · as Un Agent De Police
1965
Les Saintes Chéries (TV Series) · as Solivérès
1964
The Unvanquished · as Amerio
1959
1959
Witness in the City · as Bob La Tenaille
1955
House on the Waterfront · as Un Danseur

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