The year 2022, despite the gradual eradication of the global epidemic, has not spared the world of artists.
The prince of the stage Michel Bouquet, the visionary architect Ricardo Bofill, the new romantic Gaspard Ulliel... but also the tragedian Irène Papas, the gifted cinematographer Jean-Louis Trintignant, the Milady of the seventh art, Mylène Demongeot, the brilliant director of
Contempt
Jean-Luc Godard, Antonioni's muse Monica Vitti...
Le Figaro
pays tribute to them.
Read alsoJean-Paul Belmondo, Bertrand Tavernier, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Charlie Watts… They left us in 2021
January
3: Igor Bogdanov, 72, French science popularizer
Igor died of Covid, six days after his twin brother Grichka.
Inseparable even in the hereafter.
6: Peter Bogdanovich, 82, American critic and director
The American filmmaker was a figure of the “
New Hollywood
” movement and he had directed
The Last Session.
Orson Welles, who lived with him for a while, encouraged him to complete
The Other Side of the Wind
, which remained unfinished...
6: Sidney Poitier, 94, American actor
This hero of the black cause received the Oscar for best actor in 1964 for his remarkable composition in
Le Lys des champs
.
Read alsoSidney Poitier is dead, Hollywood loses a new star and a hero of the black cause
12: Ronnie Spector, 78, American singer
She will have been the leader of the group the Ronettes and the legendary voice of the cult song
Be My Baby.
13: Jean-Jacques Beinex, 75, French director
The director of
37°2 le matin
, a cult film from the 1980s, has had a career in the form of ups and downs.
Reputed to be irascible, he was rather very demanding.
14: Ricardo Bofill, 82, Spanish architect
Star of the 1980s, often misunderstood pioneer of postmodernism, this Catalan leaves a contrasting, monumental work, crazier in his personal projects than in his public commissions.
Read alsoRicardo Bofill, architecture as science fiction
17
: Michel Subor, 86, French actor
After having worked in his youth for the New Wave and the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, he will be at the end of his career a figure in the films of Claire Denis.
19: Hardy Krüger, 93, German actor
In the 1960s, he played in France with talent under the direction of Georges Lautner and Denys de la Patellière in films with dialogue by Michel Audiard.
19: Gaspard Ulliel, 37, French actor
The young actor won the César for best actor in 2017 for
Just the end of the world
and played Yves Saint Laurent in Bertrand Bonello's film.
His tragic death, at the age of 37, shocked cinema lovers.
Read alsoActor Gaspard Ulliel died at 37 after a skiing accident
23: Jean-Claude Mézières, 83, cartoonist
His work has inspired generations of science fiction writers, from
Star Wars
to
Avatar
.
23: Serge Korber, 85, French director
An unclassifiable man of cinema, he wanted all his life to reconcile the New Wave spirit of François Truffaut and Agnès Varda with the comic or satirical verve of Georges Lautner and Michel Audiard.
27: René de Obaldia, French playwright
We will no longer hear the laughter and bursts of humor from the man who made Jean Paulhan's quip his own:
“Death?
Provided that I arrive until there!
Poet, playwright, novelist… The exquisite Immortal, with ageless politeness, could be extremely biting and caustic.
Read alsoRené de Obaldia, one hundred years of fulfillment
February
2: Monica Vitti, 90, Italian actress
Muse of Antonioni, the actress embodied the heroine of an intellectual current in the 1960s. Before delighting in comedy.
This strikingly photogenic blonde, who became the muse of director Michelangelo Antonioni, marked the history of Italian and world cinema.
Read alsoMonica Vitti, muse of the golden age of Italian cinema
25: Michel le Royer, 89, French actor
This resident of the Comédie-Française became known thanks to the success of the soap opera
Le Chevalier de Maison-Rouge
in 1963.
March
1st: Dominique Paturel, 90 years old, French actor
Before lending his voice to JR in
Dallas
, in the 1960s and 70s, he was a familiar face on the small screen thanks to series like
Le Chevalier de Maison-Rouge
or
d'Artagnan
.
In the cinema, it will have been directed by renowned directors, such as Christian-Jaque, André Cayatte or Philippe de Broca.
11: Amarande, 88, French actress
The actress with suburban accents will have really been the queen of casseroles, a kind of Madame without embarrassment who will succeed in conquering all of Paris in the 1970s.
13: William Hurt, 71, American actor
He won an Interpretation Prize at Cannes and an Oscar for his role as an imprisoned homosexual in
The Kiss of the Spider-Woman
.
April
11: Claude Vega, 91, French actor
The exceptionally high range of this gifted entertainer allowed him to sing in the manner of Barbara, Maria Callas or even to bite into the irresistible Jacqueline Maillan.
April 13: Michel Bouquet, 96, French actor
The immense actor will have marked French theater and cinema with an eternal imprint.
It could well have been called a “
national treasure
”, as we do in
L'Empire des Signes
.
His cat smile said it all.
His kindness and his fear, his malice and his seriousness, his benevolence and his lucidity.
His eyes narrowed like those of children in the sun.
His capacity for wonder was intact and we can say that at the end of such a long and undulating path, he was fresh as on the first day.
In him, for years, he had reconciled the green paradises and the anxieties of old age.
This is why the
King's title role is dying
by Eugène Ionesco, which he played on several occasions, suited him so well.
On the set – the last time was in 2011 at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées – the camarde lit up a baby face in the jersey!
It was incredible and it came from within, from the depths of being.
Read alsoMichel Bouquet, death of a king
17: Catherine Spaak, 77, French actress
She will remain for the cinema as the unforgettable and rebellious daughter of
Fanfaron,
the wonderful Italian actor Vittorio Gassman.
21: Jacques Perrin, 80, French actor and director
From
The Girl with the Suitcase
to the
Migratory People,
the accomplished and respected man of cinema had shone as much behind as in front of the camera during his long career.
Read alsoActor and director Jacques Perrin died at 80
23: Arno, 72, Belgian singer
The artist, originally from Ostend but from Brussels at heart, was known for his rugged timbre which he covered, in the language of Molière, with a copious layer of Flemish accent.
Read alsoBelgian singer Arno died of cancer at the age of 72
May
1st: Régine, 92 years old, French singer
Child tossed from boarding school to boarding school, the "
Little Ball
" launched into a nightlife in the 1950s. By bringing together all of Paris from showbiz and business, she had reconstituted a family.
She will leave behind two legendary songs,
Les Petits Papiers
and
La Grande Zoa
.
Read alsoThe Eye of INA: When "the little Régine" became "the big Zoa"
17: Vangelis, 79, Greek composer
His pioneering work on machines in the 1970s made this Greek musician with an international career one of the world pioneers of electronic music, in the same way as Jean-Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk or Klaus Schulze.
June
13: Henri Garcin, 94, French actor
He played all the jobs and counter-jobs with disconcerting ease: a hero of the resistance, a big-hearted thug, a perverse henchman, a deceived bourgeois, an average Frenchman and a slew of ministers and judges for Yves Boisset .
17: Jean-Louis Trintignant, 91, French actor
In 2012, a film starring Jean-Louis Trintignant once again won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
It is
Amour
by the Austrian Michael Haneke in which he plays with Emmanuelle Riva an octogenarian couple with indestructible feelings.
A majestic conclusion for this actor who, all his life, will have dedicated his existence to a cinema of intimacy and mystery, a kind of poet of film and wind.
Read alsoActor Jean-Louis Trintignant died at 91
27: Joe Turkel, 94, American actor
A prolific supporting role, he notably played alongside Jack Nicholson and Harrison Ford under the direction of Stanley Kubrick and Ridley Scott.
July
2: Edward Meeks, 90, Franco-American actor
This comedian, as gifted as he is sympathetic, has starred in historical films such as
The Longest Day
and
The Sicilian Clan
.
For television, he was from 1966 to 1968, the hero of the cult soap opera
Les Globe-trotters
.
2: Peter Brook, 97, British director
The immense director and writer,
"empty space theorist"
and fine adapter of Shakespeare's work died on July 2 in Paris.
In the cinema, he notably directed Jeanne Moreau and Jean-Paul Belmondo in 1960 in a film adapted from a novel by Marguerite Duras.
Read alsoDeath at 97 of great theater man Peter Brook, director of Moderato Cantabile
6: James Caan, 82, American actor
Francis Ford Coppola will give him one of his most famous roles, in the first part of
The Godfather
trilogy , an epic saga about the Italian-American mafia that has marked the history of cinema.
James Caan plays Sonny Corleone, the eldest son of Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando).
His brutal assassination under a hail of bullets at a toll booth is one of the film's strongest moments.
The role earned him an Oscar nomination.
6: Micheline Boudet, 96, French actress
His playful spirit, his bursting laughter have illuminated the theatrical stage for more than fifty years.
The actress Micheline Boudet, will have been the mischievous accomplice of Jean Piat and Robert Hirsch on the trestles.
Honorary member of the Comédie-Française, she returned as a boarder on September 1, 1945.
10: Chantal Gallia, 65, French impersonator
His good humor, his insolence and his parodies, in particular of the announcer Denise Fabre, will have marked the memories.
13: Charlotte Valandrey, 53, French actress
For film buffs, she will always be Nadia, this endearing adolescent rebellious to sensuality who awakens in Véra Belmont's film,
Rouge Baiser
, released in 1985. The actress had recourse to a transplant in 2003, which had from her the first HIV-positive to receive a heart transplant in France.
Actress Charlotte Valandrey dies aged 53
18: Dani, 77, French actress and singer
Singer, model, actress, rose gardener, this atypical-looking woman was a brilliant dilettante, a figure of France for the past fifty years.
Read alsoDani, like a boomerang
24: David Warner, 80, British actor
The British actor has worked with Sidney Lumet, Alain Resnais, Volker Schlöndorff, Joseph Losey or James Cameron.
25: Paul Sorvino, 83, American actor
He will remain famous for his role in the gangster film,
Les Affranchis.
He is the father of actress Mira Sorvino,
August
6: Daniel Lévi, 60, French singer
He was stunning as Moses in the musical,
The Ten Commandments
.
8: Olivia Newton-John, 73, British-Australian actress
She only needed one role for her name to remain etched in our memories forever.
And a song,
You're the One That I want
, to capsize the boys.
No one will forget his smoldering gaze and his erotic swaying in
Grease,
alongside John Travolta, in 1978.
Read alsoActress Olivia Newton-John, star of Grease, is dead
11: Jean-Jacques Sempé, 89, French cartoonist
Here, Sempé is no more.
In the corner of Little Nicolas' eye, there is a tear.
The designer will no longer shoot his Indian arrow-shaped features that often touched our hearts.
France mourns his death and that of a French spirit, one that delights in furtive happiness even if it sometimes seems old-fashioned.
His lines were verses, his drawings were writing poems.
Like the Roaring Twenties painter Foujita who said he wanted to “
reach with a single point to represent an entire universe
”.
Jean-Jacques Sempé's dream, to embrace the world as it is, by mingling his touching little characters with the immensity of the landscapes they cross, has been shattered.
And our heart with...
Read alsoJean-Jacques Sempé, the father of Petit Nicolas, died at the age of 89
12: Wolgang Petersen, 81, German director
He loved blockbuster cinema, extreme situations in which he could easily observe human behavior in all its truth.
The German director, famous for films such as
Das Boot
(
The Boat
, 1981),
The Neverending Story
,
In the Crosshairs
(with Clint Eastwood in 1993),
Air Force One
(with Harrison Ford, in 1997) or
Troy
(with Brad Pitt, in 2004), died of pancreatic cancer.
20: Leon Vitali, 74, British actor
He was Stanley Kubrick's indispensable right-hand man.
A man of many talents, he played Lord Bullingdon in
Barry Lyndon
and assisted the brilliant filmmaker on the sets of The
Shining
,
Full Metal Jacket
and
Eyes Wide Shut
.
September
6: Just Jaeckin, 82, French director
The rattan armchairs owe him a lot.
On the poster, Sylvia Kristel sat shirtless in this exotic seat.
Upon release, onlookers flocked to Pier Import stores, asking vendors if the actress was included in the purchase.
Emmanuelle
, in 1974, had a success that was as considerable as it was unexpected.
At the Champs-Élysées, the Triomphe programmed the film for more than ten years.
Just Jaeckin had made a truly cult film...
7: Marsha Hunt, 104, American actress
This dean of the golden age of Hollywood will have worked with Richard Fleischer and Alfred Hitchcock.
11: Alain Tanner, 92, Swiss director
The Swiss filmmaker, author of
La Salamandre
, is a pioneer of the New Wave in his country.
13: Jean-Luc Godard, 91, Swiss director
There were, as with Picasso, several Godard eras.
New Wave period, which is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary (
A bout de souffle
, with a screenplay by François Truffaut;
Le Mépris,
adapted from the novel by Moravia and shot in the famous villa of Malaparte;
Pierrot le Fou
), Dziga Vertov period, Soviet filmmaker using the camera to film life itself (
Pravda
,
The East Wind
,
Struggles in Italy
), video era (
Here and Elsewhere
,
How are you?
),
Sauve-qui-peut era ( life)
, finally time
Alas for me
,
Take care of your right
,
History(ies) of cinema
…
Read alsoDeath of Jean-Luc Godard, master of the New Wave and legend of the seventh art, at 91
14: Irène Papas, 93, Greek actress
Antigone, Electra, Helen of Troy, Penelope of course... Irène Papas knew how to embody the legends of ancient Greece with all her strength of conviction and majestic beauty.
The immense tragic actress, born in 1926 near Corinth, died at the age of 96.
The announcement of her disappearance was made by the Ministry of Culture, who rightly stated that she
“personified Greek beauty on screen and on stage”
.
Read alsoUnforgettable in Le Zorba le Grec and Les Canons de Navarone, Irène Papas died at 96
14: Henry Silva, 95, American actor
On se souviendra qu'il a débuté en 1952 dans Viva Zapata ! au côté de Marlon Brando. Il a incarné parfaitement les rôles de méchants aux États-Unis et même en France face à Jean-Paul Belmondo en 1983 dans le film de Jacques Deray.
- 21 : François Corteggiani, 69 ans, dessinateur et scénariste de BD
Dessinateur, scénariste, passionné de bande dessinée, l'auteur de nombreuses séries telles que La jeunesse de Blueberry, De Silence et de sang ou même Pif le chien, le dernier repreneur des aventures de Lefranc s'est éteint brutalement à l'âge de 69 ans.
Octobre
- 2 : Sacheen Littlefeather, 75 ans, actrice américaine d'origine apache
On se souviendra que Marlon Brando avait demandé à l'actrice de refuser le prix pour lui en signe de protestation contre le traitement des Amérindiens par l'industrie cinématographique.
- 14 : Robbie Coltrane, 72 ans, acteur britannique
Il était connu mondialement pour son rôle du demi-géant Hagrid dans les films de la saga Harry Potter.
À lire aussiRobbie Coltrane, qui incarnait Hagrid dans la saga Harry Potter, est mort
- 18 : Jean Teulé, 69 ans, romancier français
Il s'est d'abord fait connaître comme concepteur de romans et de nouvelles graphiques qu'il élaborait à partir de photos découpées et montées, publiés dans les années 1980.... Il prendra un tout autre virage dans les années 1990 en se consacrant à l'écriture de romans, parfois sous forme d'enquête, souvent s'inspirant de faits réels, contemporains ou historiques. Sa passion pour la poésie transparaît à travers plusieurs titres qui tournent autour du genre, comme Rainbow pour Rimbaud ou Je, François Villon qui sera adapté en bande dessinée. Tout comme Charly 9.
À lire aussiJean Teulé, romancier et auteur de bandes dessinées, est mort à 69 ans
- 26 : Pierre Soulages, 102 ans, peintre français
Peinture, gravure, lithographie, avec du brou de noix ou du bitume, le géant de l'Aveyron a décliné sur tous les supports son obsession du noir qui révélait la lumière.... Il y avait de l'alchimiste en lui. Plus le temps passait, plus il approfondissait sa manière.
À lire aussiDécès de Pierre Soulages, artiste-monument, peintre de l'abstraction et de l'Outrenoir
- 28 : Jerry Lee Lewis, 87 ans, chanteur américain
Le dernier géant du rock'n'roll était réputé pour sa forte présence sur scène et son style inimitable au piano, instrument qu'il maltraitait au point d'être surnommé «The killer»...
À lire aussiMort de Jerry Lee Lewis, le dernier géant du rock'n'roll, à 87 ans
Novembre
- 25 : Irene Cara, 63 ans, actrice et chanteuse américaine
L'interprète de Fame et What a Feeling a été oscarisée pour la meilleure chanson originale du film Flashdance (1982).
À lire aussiDisparition d'Irene Cara, l'interprète de Fame et What a Feeling
Décembre
- 1er : Mylène Demongeot, 87 ans, actrice française
Les Sorcières de Salem de Raymond Rouleau, d'après un scénario de Jean-Paul Sartre, avec Simone Signoret, Yves Montand et Michel Piccoli en 1957 lance sa carrière. Elle s'imposera comme la grande rivale de Brigitte Bardot... avant de devenir une actrice populaire son rôle de journaliste dans Fantômas au côté de Jean Marais et de Louis de Funès.
À lire aussiMylène Demongeot : «Au fond, j'ai toujours navigué entre la légèreté et la passion»
- 4 : Dominique Lapierre, 91 ans, écrivain français
Avec l'Américain Larry Collins, il avait vendu quelque 50 millions d'exemplaires de leurs six romans, dont Paris brûle-t-il ? Après avoir écrit, seul, La Cité de la joie (1985), sur un bidonville de Calcutta, il donna une bonne part de ses droits d'auteur aux miséreux qui l'avaient inspiré. La somme fut rondelette : le roman s'est au total vendu à 12 millions d'exemplaires et fit l'objet d'un film, réalisé par Roland Joffé, en 1992.
À lire aussiMort de l'écrivain philanthrope Dominique Lapierre, auteur de La Cité de la joie
- 26 : Françoise Bourdin, 70 ans, écrivain français
The novelist Françoise Bourdin died on Monday December 26.
The writer is one of the most successful authors in France, with 15 million books sold, translated into 12 languages.
