Robert Hossein
Acting
Born: December 30, 1927 · Paris, France
Died: December 31, 2020 (aged 93)
Highest Rated
Biography
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.
Known for
Rififi
1955
The Professional
1981
Angelique
1964
Angelique and the King
1966
Venus Beauty Institute
1999
The Burglars
1971
Angelique and the Sultan
1968
Untamable Angelique
1967
Bolero
1981
Les Miserables
1995
The Big Pardon
1982
Les Misérables
1982
Photos (4)
Movies (99)
Prêtres interdits
Jean Rastaud
The Professional
Commissaire Rosen
Angelique and the Sultan
Joffrey de Peyrac "Le Rescator"
Rififi
Rémi Grutter
Angelique
Jeoffrey de Peyrac
Life Love Death
Man in the movie
Mademoiselle de Maupin
Captain Alcibiade
Angelique and the King
Jeoffrey de Peyrac
The Burglars
Ralph
Untamable Angelique
Joffrey de Peyrac, 'Le Rescator'
Trivial
Antoine Bérangère
Les Miserables
Le maître de cérémonie
Venus Beauty Institute
L'aviateur
Bolero
Simon Meyer / Robert Prat
Cemetery without Crosses
Manuel
Madame
Le sergent François-Joseph Lefebvre
Marco the Magnificent
Prince Nayam
Belmondo: The Incorrigible
2022
L'Affaire
Paul Haslans
A Man and His Dog
Un homme a la soupe populaire
The Dirty Game
Dupont
The Wax Mask
Boris Volkoff
Love on a Pillow
Renaud Sarti
Misdeal
Martin von Klaus
Provisional Liberty
Jean-Paul Viberty / Jean Rungis
I Killed Rasputin
Serge Sukhotin
The Conspirators
Leonida Montanari
A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later
Robert Hossein
Why Paris?
1964
The Scarlet Lady
Julien
San Antonio
Le ministre de l'intérieur / The Minister
Picking Strawberries
2025
Falling Point
Le Caïd
OSS 117: Panic in Bangkok
Dr. Sinn
Lamiel
Roger Valber
The Battle of El Alamein
Erwin Rommel
OSS 117 Murder for Sale
Dr. Saadi
Children of Chaos
Robert
The Phoney
Kaminsky
A Little Virtuous
Louis Brady
Don Juan or If Don Juan Were a Woman
Louis Prévost
Enough Rope
Inspektor Corby
Time of the Wolves
Dillinger
Tender Moment
Enrico Fontana
Paris Pick-Up
Robert Herbin
The Man Who Betrayed the Mafia
Maître Bianchini
Riff Raff Girls
Marcel Point-Bleu
Stranger in the House
Narrator (voice)
Blonde in a White Car
Pierre Menda
Highway Pick-Up
Daniel Boisset
Brigade Anti Gangs
Chief Commissioner Le Goff
The Wicked Go to Hell
Fred
No Sun in Venice
Sforzi
God's Thunder
Marcel
Hitch-Hike
Edouard, le fou
Vice and Virtue
SS Oberst Erik Schörndorf
Surprise Party
André Auerbach
Death of a Killer
Pierre Massa
The Other Truth
Pierre Montaud, the Advocate
The Taste of Violence
Perez
Desert Assault
Capitaine Curd Heinz (Rudi en Français)
Scandalous Crimes
Judge Bocchi
The Vampire of Dusseldorf
Peter Kuerten
Forgive Our Trespasses
(uncredited)
Quai des blondes
Chemise Rose
The Big Pardon
Manuel Carreras
The Devil Who Limped
Guest in white (uncredited)
Love Is Better Than Life
Robert Prat
Take Me As I Am
Ed Dawson
Crime and Punishment
René Brunel
A Murder Is a Murder
Jean Carouse
The Lion's Share
Maurice Ménard
Marked Eyes
Franz
Hellé
Kleber
La Musica
Him
Une femme nommée Marie
Narrator (voice)
The Wretches
Jess Rooland
Crime Thief
Tian
Levy & Goliath
Goliath customer (uncredited)
The Game of Truth
L'inspecteur de police
Démons de midi
Metteur en scène de théâtre
The Verdict
Georges Lagrange
The Road to Shame
Pierre Rossi
Long March
Carnot
Sextette
1948
The Protector
Arnaud
Maya
Un témoin du meurtre qui n'a rien vu (uncredited)
Double Agents
Lui
Le commissaire mène l’enquête
The lover (segment "Pour qui sonne le ...")
A Police Officer Without Importance
Pierre Fresse
Versatile Lovers
Serge Belaïeff
Young Girls Beware
Raven
Le Tour d'Écrou
Peter Quint
Noni : Le Fruit de l'espoir
Le grand-père d'Angeli
Le Caviar rouge
Alex
In the Eyes of Memory
A student from the Simon course
The Menace
Savary
Antigone
Créon
Judge Roy Bean
Black Bird
TV Shows (4)
Self / Appearances (25)
Apostrophes
Self · 1 eps
Sacrée soirée
Self · 3 eps
Spécial cinéma
Self · 2 eps
Vivement dimanche
Self · 10 eps
Champs-Elysées
Self · 3 eps
Le Grand Échiquier
Self · 6 eps
Le Grand Échiquier
Self - Main Guest · 1 eps
Midi trente
Self · 3 eps
Cinépanorama
Self · 4 eps
Nulle part ailleurs
Self · 1 eps
Stars 90
Self · 1 eps
Téléthon
Self · 1 eps
Reflets de Cannes
Self · 2 eps
Belmondo, itinéraire...
Self
Aznavour by Charles
Self - Actor (archive footage)
Belmondo by Belmondo
Self
Belmondo, il était une fois le beau monde
Self
Denn sie kennen kein Erbarmen - Der Italowestern
Self
Stars Meet in Moscow
Self
Paradjanov, le dernier collage
Self
Les fleurs maladives de Georges Franju
Self
Marie-France Pisier, une femme sous influence
Self
Hossein, Ronet, Trintignant : Confidences de trois acteurs inoubliables
Self (archive footage)
Raymond Devos dans tous ses sens
Self
Du rififi chez les hommes - Jules Dassin, l'élégance du noir
Himself
Directing (19)
Kean
Stage Director
Les Misérables
Director
Cemetery without Crosses
Director
I Killed Rasputin
Director
Falling Point
Director
Blonde in a White Car
Director
The Wicked Go to Hell
Director
Death of a Killer
Director
The Taste of Violence
Director
The Vampire of Dusseldorf
Director
Forgive Our Trespasses
Director
Marked Eyes
Director
Une femme nommée Marie
Stage Director
The Wretches
Director
The Game of Truth
Director
Double Agents
Director
Hernani
Stage Director
Le Caviar rouge
Director
Cyrano de Bergerac
Director
Writing (18)
Les Misérables
Screenplay
Cemetery without Crosses
Writer
I Killed Rasputin
Writer
Falling Point
Writer
Blonde in a White Car
Screenplay
The Wicked Go to Hell
Screenplay
Death of a Killer
Adaptation
Death of a Killer
Screenplay
The Taste of Violence
Screenplay
The Taste of Violence
Dialogue
The Vampire of Dusseldorf
Screenplay
Forgive Our Trespasses
Screenplay
Marked Eyes
Story
The Wretches
Screenplay
The Game of Truth
Writer
The Verdict
Writer
Double Agents
Screenplay
Le Caviar rouge
Screenplay
