MICHEL PICCOLI

Rarely is an actor able to embody a culture without resembling it. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the culture of France and the Mediterranean countries of Europe has often been associated with Michel Piccoli's face, voice and unmistakable style. This correspondence, this "geographic" aspect of Piccoli is multifaceted and was created by many different film and theatrical roles. It partly stems from his way of interpreting and experiencing these two arts, which is also deeply-rooted in other fields, and was partly created by his enthusiasm, social commitment and insatiable curiosity for the arts and the world in general. This is the only way to explain Piccoli's stature as an actor who has no equal in the cinema and theatre of today and yesterday, and continues to surprise us with his enormous work capacity that the passing of time does not diminish but, on the contrary, seems to increase, along with his ability to diversify.
Born in Paris in 1925 to a musical family, Michel Piccoli is internationally famous for his film roles. He has over 170 movies to his credit, mostly directed by eminent European filmmakers. Piccoli made his acting debut in the theatre, however, working with directors such as Duking, Vitaly, Barsacq, Barrault and especially Vilar.
Piccoli developed his talent mostly "in the field", as a long-time member of the Grenier-Hussenot theatre company and then during the remarkable period of J. M. Serreau's "Société coopérative ouvrière de production du théâtre de Babylone" that often staged works by Ionesco and Beckett amidst a thousand difficulties, before having to disband.
In 1944, he made his film debut in Sortilèges by Christian Jacques, embarking on an career studded with unforgettable movies by a host of directors who always liked to work him, including Renoir, Chabrol, Buñuel, Sautet, Malle, Hitchcock, Rivette, Ferreri, Aurel, Varda, Boisset, Vadim, Del Monte, Godard, Bellocchio, Ruiz, Resnais, De Seta, Tavernier, Papatakis, Mouriéras, Cavani, De Oliveira, Petri, Lelouch, Costa Gavras, Chahine.
It is almost impossible to list, or even summarise, Michel Piccoli's filmography. Enough to mention The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie by Buñuel, Dillinger è morto by Marco Ferreri, Le Mépris by Godard, Mado by Claude Sautet and Milou en Mai by Malle.
He has produced films by Tavernier (Des enfants gâtés), Francis Girod (L'état sauvage) and Luciano Tovoli (Le Général de l'armé morte), also producing Contre l'oublie a documentary for Amnesty International in 1991. In 1994, he made his directorial debut with a short entitled Train de nuit, followed by two feature films: Alors voilà (1997) and La plage noire, a much-awaited Franco-Polish coproduction due for release this summer.
In 1981, Piccoli returned to the theatre in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, when director Peter Brook asked him to play Gaïev.
After his return to the stage, anticipated by a production of Don Juan adapted for television by Marcel Bluwal in 1965, his film and theatrical careers intertwined. He gave memorable performances in Combat de nègre et de chiens by Koltès (1983) and La Fausse suivante by Marivaux, both directed by Patrice Chéreau. His performance in Terre étrangère by Luc Bondy won him the award for Best Theatre Actor of the Year in 1984. In 1987, he did A Winter's Tale by Shakespeare, directed by Luc Bondy and, in 1993, John Gabriel Borkman by Ibsen for the Théâtre d'Europe, directed once again by Bondy. This was followed by La maladie de la mort (1997), by Marguerite Duras, directed by Robert Wilson and a Pirandello project at the Conservatoire National d'Art Dramatique in Paris.
Michel Piccoli's autobiography is featured in the volume Dialogues égoistes published in 1976.