Robert Hossein passed away at the age of 93, after 74 years of an immense career devoted to theatre and cinema.
At only 19, he wrote and directed his first play The Thugs, at the Théâtre du Vieux - Colombier. That same year, he turned to the cinema under the direction of Sacha Guitry in The Lame Devil. The greatest directors of the time offered him major roles: Claude Autant-Lara, Jean Delannoy, Yves Allégret, Roger Vadim, Julien Duvivier and Jules Dassin.
From 1955, he passed behind the camera, and made a total of fifteen feature films.
In 1970, he took the reins of the Théâtre populaire de Reims, giving himself the task of walk in front of the audience who had never come to the theatre ».
Anxious to offer dreams and intense emotions to the public, it will mount, especially at the Palais des Sports and the Palais des Congrès in Paris, large historical and popular frescoes dedicated to a large public. Thus, his staging of Ben Hur at the Stade de France, a play written by Alain Decaux, will gather 300,000 spectators in just five performances. In search of new formats, he invents the concept of participatory theatre, which allows spectators to express their opinion during the play.
Crazy about theatre, he directed the Marigny theatre and directed several plays of the French repertoire like Closed Session by Jean-Paul Sartre or Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand with Jean-Paul Belmondo.
An incredible actor, director and director, he has lived and built the imagination of generations of theatre and cinema lovers.
Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, Minister of Culture, extends her deepest condolences to his wife Candice and his loved ones.