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