Robert Hossein
Acting
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.
TV Shows(17)
The Little Murders of Agatha Christie
Simon
2009
Petits Meurtres en famille
Simon
2006
Le Juge
Roger Marino
2005
Vivement dimanche
Self
1998
Stars 90
Self
1990
Le Gorille
Joseph Beaucis
1990
Téléthon
Self
1987
Sacrée Soirée
Self
1987
Nulle part ailleurs
Self
1987
Champs-Elysées
Self
1982
Apostrophes
Self
1975
Spécial cinéma
Self
1974
Midi trente
Self
1972
Le Grand Échiquier
Self
1972
Samedi soir
Self
1971
Cinépanorama
Self
1956
Reflets de Cannes
Self
1954
Movies(114)
Picking Strawberries
2025
Raymond Devos dans tous ses sens
Self
2022
Belmondo: The Incorrigible
2022
Love Is Better Than Life
Robert Prat
2022
Hossein, Ronet, Trintignant : Confidences de trois acteurs inoubliables
Self (archive footage)
2021
Noni : Le Fruit de l'espoir
Le grand-père d'Angeli
2020
Aznavour by Charles
Self - Actor (archive footage)
2019
Belmondo by Belmondo
Self
2016
Marie-France Pisier, une femme sous influence
Self
2014
Belmondo, il était une fois le beau monde
Self
2011
Une femme nommée Marie
Narrator (voice)
2011
Belmondo, itinéraire...
Self
2011
Les fleurs maladives de Georges Franju
Self
2009
A Man and His Dog
Un homme a la soupe populaire
2009
Annie Girardot, ainsi va la vie
Self
2008
Trivial
Antoine Bérangère
2007
Denn sie kennen kein Erbarmen - Der Italowestern
Self
2006
San Antonio
Le ministre de l'intérieur / The Minister
2004
Antigone
Créon
2003
Scandalous Crimes
Judge Bocchi
1999
Venus Beauty Institute
L'aviateur
1999
The Wax Mask
Boris Volkoff
1997
Les Miserables
Le maître de cérémonie
1995
Paradjanov, le dernier collage
Self
1995
L'Affaire
Paul Haslans
1994
Stranger in the House
Narrator (voice)
1992
Children of Chaos
Robert
1989
La croisade des enfants
Philippe-Auguste
1988
Levy & Goliath
Goliath customer (uncredited)
1987
A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later
Robert Hossein
1986
Le Caviar rouge
Alex
1986
Surprise party
André Auerbach
1983
The Big Pardon
Manuel Carreras
1982
The Professional
Commissaire Rosen
1981
Bolero
Simon Meyer / Robert Prat
1981
Démons de midi
Metteur en scène de théâtre
1979
The Phoney
Kaminsky
1975
The Protector
Arnaud
1974
Le Tour d'Écrou
Peter Quint
1974
Prêtres interdits
Jean Rastaud
1973
A Police Officer Without Importance
Pierre Fresse
1973
Don Juan or If Don Juan Were a Woman
Louis Prévost
1973
A Murder Is a Murder
Jean Carouse
1972
Hellé
Kleber
1972
The Burglars
Ralph
1971
The Lion's Share
Maurice Ménard
1971
Judge Roy Bean
Black Bird
1971
Falling Point
Le Caïd
1970
Versatile Lovers
Serge Belaïeff
1970
Time of the Wolves
Dillinger
1970
The Conspirators
Leonida Montanari
1969
Desert Assault
Capitaine Curd Heinz (Rudi en Français)
1969
Crime Thief
Tian
1969
The Scarlet Lady
Julien
1969
Misdeal
Martin von Klaus
1969
Life Love Death
Man in the movie
1969
Cemetery Without Crosses
Manuel
1969
The Battle of El Alamein
Erwin Rommel
1969
Tender Moment
Enrico Fontana
1968
OSS 117 Murder for Sale
Dr. Saadi
1968
Angelique and the Sultan
Joffrey de Peyrac "Le Rescator"
1968
A Little Virtuous
Louis Brady
1968
Untamable Angelique
Joffrey de Peyrac, 'Le Rescator'
1967
Lamiel
Roger Valber
1967
The Man Who Betrayed the Mafia
Maître Bianchini
1967
I Killed Rasputin
Serge Sukhotin
1967
La Musica
Him
1967
Brigade Anti Gangs
Chief Commissioner Le Goff
1966
Long March
Carnot
1966
The Other Truth
Pierre Montaud, the Advocate
1966
Angelique and the King
Jeoffrey de Peyrac
1966
Mademoiselle de Maupin
Captain Alcibiade
1966
God's Thunder
Marcel
1965
Marco the Magnificent
Prince Nayam
1965
Le commissaire mène l’enquête
The lover (segment "Pour qui sonne le ...")
1965
The Dirty Game
Dupont
1965
The Vampire of Dusseldorf
Peter Kuerten
1965
Angelique
Jeoffrey de Peyrac
1964
Marked Eyes
Franz
1964
Why Paris?
1964
OSS 117: Panic in Bangkok
Dr. Sinn
1964
Death of a Killer
Pierre Massa
1964
Highway Pick-Up
Daniel Boisset
1963
Of Flesh and Blood
Samuel
1963
Vice and Virtue
SS Oberst Erik Schörndorf
1963
Enough Rope
Inspektor Corby
1963
Love on a Pillow
Renaud Sarti
1962
Paris Pick-Up
Robert Herbin
1962
Hitch-Hike
Edouard, le fou
1962
Madame
Le sergent François-Joseph Lefebvre
1961
The Game of Truth
L'inspecteur de police
1961
The Taste of Violence
Perez
1961
The Menace
Savary
1961
The Wretches
Jess Rooland
1960
Take Me As I Am
Ed Dawson
1960
The Verdict
Georges Lagrange
1959
Double Agents
Lui
1959
Stars Meet in Moscow
Self
1959
Riff Raff Girls
Marcel Point-Bleu
1959
The Road to Shame
Pierre Rossi
1959
Blonde in a White Car
Pierre Menda
1959
Provisional Liberty
Jean-Paul Viberty / Jean Rungis
1958
Young Girls Beware
Raven
1957
No Sun in Venice
Sforzi
1957
Crime and Punishment
René Brunel
1956
Forgive Our Trespasses
(uncredited)
1956
The Wicked Go to Hell
Fred
1955
Rififi
Rémi Grutter
1955
Série noire
Jo
1955
Quai des blondes
Chemise Rose
1954
Maya
Un témoin du meurtre qui n'a rien vu (uncredited)
1949
In the Eyes of Memory
A student from the Simon course
1948
Sextette
1948
The Devil Who Limped
Guest in white (uncredited)
1948