RH
Robert Hossein
Actor, Director, Writer, Producer, Additional Credits
Died December 31, 2020 (93 years)
Robert Hossein was a French film actor of Parsi origin, director and writer. He directed the 1982 adaption of Les Misérables, and appeared in Vice and Virtue, Le Casse, Les Uns et les Autres and Venus Beauty Institute. His most recent roles include starring as Michèle Mercier's husband in the Angélique series and as a Catholic priest who falls in love with Claude Jade and becomes a communist in Prêtres interdits (Forbidden Priests) in 1973.
Hossein started directing films in 1956 with Les salauds vont en enfer from a story by Frédéric 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. 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 Dostoyevski.
Although Hossein had some modest international successes with films like Toi, le venin and Le vampire de 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. He was not averse to trying his hand at widely different genres and was never defeated, making the strikingly different spaghetti western Une corde, un Colt and the low-budgeted but daringly subversive period drama J'ai tué Raspoutine. 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.
He is the son of André Hossein a Zoroastrian French composer of Azerbaijani-Tajik descent, and a Jewish comedy actress from Kiev. He was married three times: first to Marina Vlady (he has two sons with her, Pierre and Igor), later to Caroline Eliacheff (with whom he has a son, Nicholas). He is currently married to actress Candice Patou, with whom he has one son, Julien.
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 Lombardo Italy.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Hossein, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Hossein started directing films in 1956 with Les salauds vont en enfer from a story by Frédéric 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. 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 Dostoyevski.
Although Hossein had some modest international successes with films like Toi, le venin and Le vampire de 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. He was not averse to trying his hand at widely different genres and was never defeated, making the strikingly different spaghetti western Une corde, un Colt and the low-budgeted but daringly subversive period drama J'ai tué Raspoutine. 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.
He is the son of André Hossein a Zoroastrian French composer of Azerbaijani-Tajik descent, and a Jewish comedy actress from Kiev. He was married three times: first to Marina Vlady (he has two sons with her, Pierre and Igor), later to Caroline Eliacheff (with whom he has a son, Nicholas). He is currently married to actress Candice Patou, with whom he has one son, Julien.
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 Lombardo Italy.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Hossein, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Filmography
| 2021 | Love Is Better Than Life · as Robert Prat |
| 2021 | |
| 2010 | Ben Hur: The Hollywood Legend Comes Alive · as Director |
| 2008 | A Man and His Dog · as Un Homme A La Soupe Populaire |
| 2007 | Trivial · as Antoine Bérangère |
| 2006 | A Family Murder Party (TV Series) · as Simon |
| 2005 | Venus and Apollo (TV Series) · as M. Cailleterre |
| 2004 | San Antonio · as Le Ministre De L'intérieur / The Minister |
| 2002 | Huis clos · as Garcin |
| 1999 | Gialloparma · as Judge Bocchi |
| 1999 | Venus Beauty Institute · as L'aviateur |
| 1997 | The Wax Mask · as Boris Volkoff |
| 1995 | Les Misérables · as Le Maître De Cérémonie |
| 1994 | L'affaire · as Paul Haslans |
| 1992 | Stranger in the House · as Narrator (voice) |
| 1989 | Les enfants du désordre · as Robert |
| 1987 | Lévy et Goliath · as Client De Goliath (uncredited) |
| 1985 | Le caviar rouge · as Alex |
| 1983 | Antarctica · as Cast |
| 1983 | Surprise Party · as André Auerbach |
| 1982 | The Big Pardon · as Manuel Carreras |
| 1982 | Famous T & A · as Louis Prévost |
| 1981 | Les uns et les autres (TV Series) · as Robert Prat |
| 1981 | The Professional · as Commissaire Rosen |
| 1981 | Bolero · as Simon Meyer / Robert Prat |
| 1978 | The Pocket Lover · as Barbouze Ministre 2 |
| 1975 | The Phoney · as Kaminsky |
| 1974 | The Protector · as Arnaud |
| 1974 | Le tour d'écrou · as Peter Quint |
| 1973 | Forbidden Priests · as Jean Rastaud |
| 1973 | A Police Officer Without Importance · as Pierre Fresse |
| 1973 | Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman · as Louis Prévost |
| 1972 | Murder Is a Murder · as Jean Carouse |
| 1972 | |
| 1971 | The Burglars · as Ralph |
| 1971 | The Lion's Share · as Maurice Ménard |
| 1970 | Falling Point · as Le Caïd |
| 1970 | Les libertines · as Serge Belaïeff |
| 1970 | Carbon Copy · as Dillinger |
| 1969 | The Conspirators · as Leonida Montanari |
| 1969 | La battaglia del deserto · as Capitaine Curd Heinz (rudi En Français) |
| 1969 | Crime Thief · as Tian |
| 1969 | The Scarlet Lady · as Julien |
| 1969 | Misdeal · as Martin Von Klaus |
| 1969 | Life Love Death · as The Man In The Movie |
| 1969 | Cemetery Without Crosses · as Manuel |
| 1969 | The Battle of El Alamein · as Erwin Rommel |
| 1968 | Once Upon a Time in the West · as Member Of Frank's Gang In Flashback |
| 1968 | Tender Moment · as Enrico Fontana |
| 1968 | OSS 117 Murder for Sale · as Dr. Saadi |
| 1968 | Angelique and the Sultan · as Joffrey De Peyrac "le Rescator" |
| 1968 | A Little Virtuous · as Louis Brady |
| 1967 | Lamiel · as Roger Valber |
| 1967 | J'ai tué Raspoutine · as Serge Sukhotin |
| 1967 | The Music · as Him |
| 1967 | Untamable Angelique · as Joffrey De Peyrac "le Rescator" |
| 1966 | Brigade Anti Gangs · as Le Commissaire Principal Le Goff |
| 1966 | The Second Twin · as Pierre Montaud, The Advocate |
| 1966 | Angelique and the King · as Jeoffrey De Peyrac |
| 1966 | Madamigella di Maupin · as Capitaine Alcibiade |
| 1965 | The Thunder of God · as Marcel |
| 1965 | Marco the Magnificent · as Prince Nayam |
| 1965 | The Secret Agents · as Dupont |
| 1965 | The Secret Killer · as Peter Kuerten |
| 1964 | Angélique · as Jeoffrey De Peyrac |
| 1964 | Marked Eyes · as Franz |
| 1964 | Shadow of Evil · as Dr. Sinn |
| 1964 | Death of a Killer · as Pierre Massa |
| 1963 | Highway Pick-Up · as Daniel Boisset |
| 1963 | Of Flesh and Blood · as Samuel |
| 1963 | Vice and Virtue · as Ss Oberst Erik Schörndorf |
| 1963 | Enough Rope · as Inspektor Corby |
| 1962 | Love on a Pillow · as Renaud Sarti |
| 1962 | Paris Pick-Up · as Robert Herbin |
| 1962 | Hitch-Hike · as Edouard, Le Fou |
| 1961 | Madame · as Le Sergent François-Joseph Lefebvre |
| 1961 | Le jeu de la vérité · as L'inspecteur De Police |
| 1961 | The Taste of Violence · as Perez |
| 1961 | La menace · as Savary |
| 1960 | The Wretches · as Jess Rooland |
| 1960 | Les canailles · as Ed Dawson |
| 1959 | Double Agents · as Lui |
| 1959 | Riff Raff Girls · as Marcel Point-Bleu |
| 1959 | The Road to Shame · as Pierre Rossi |
| 1958 | Blonde in a White Car · as Pierre Menda |
| 1958 | |
| 1957 | Young Girls Beware · as Raven |
| 1957 | No Sun in Venice · as Sforzi |
| 1956 | Crime and Punishment · as René Brunel |
| 1955 | The Wicked Go to Hell · as Fred |
| 1955 | Rififi · as Rémi Grutter |
| 1955 | The Infiltrator · as Jo |
| 1949 | Maya · as Un Témoin Du Meurtre Qui N'a Rien Vu (uncredited) |
| 1948 | Aux yeux du souvenir · as A Student From The Simon Course |
| 1948 | The Lame Devil · as Un Invité En Blanc (non Crédité) |