From Contempt to Habemus Papam , passing through The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie , his face will have illuminated the seventh art. In particular the films of Claude Sautet, Luis Buñuel, Jean-Luc Godard or even Alfred Hitchcock. The French actor Michel Piccoli died Tuesday, May 12 at the age of 94 following a stroke, his family announced in a press release sent by Gilles Jacob to AFP.
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The former president of the Cannes Festival paid tribute to Piccoli on social networks, posting a photo of the actor accompanied by the legend "Michel". Longtime friends, the two men co-authored the book I lived in my dreams (ed. Grasset) five years ago.
Franck Riester was one of the first to honor the memory of this "immense actor whose eyes suffice to transport" . "From cinema to theater, he impressed with the incredible accuracy of his acting. This generous man with sincere commitment will be greatly missed," tweeted the Minister of Culture, immediately imitated by Jack Lang. "Monument of French cinema, actor with a thousand lives, it is above all for me a great friend that I am losing today" , added his predecessor.
"He had talent, humor and" he liked my buttocks " , said Brigitte Bardot in a statement relayed on social networks, in reference to the film Le Mépris . " The last spray of" the new wave "prevailed leaving me alone on" the abandoned beach " ," she added.
Pierre Arditi, who shared the screen with Piccoli in the film by Alain Renais You haven't seen anything yet, praised an "actor of genius" on RTL. "He is a man who decided to have his desire as a career plan (...) You only have to watch his films, whether old or recent and you will see that the we were dealing with a genius, ” he said at the microphone of Pascal Praud.
Costa-Gavras paid tribute to "a real actor" on BFMTV. "He liked to make the characters he liked, who touched him personally, whether on a human or political level , said the director about the actor, seen in his first feature film ( Killers compartment) and with whom he is " stayed friends 50 years . "