Yves Robert


Yves Robert was a French actor, screenwriter, director, and producer.

Life and career

Robert was born in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France. In his teens, he went to Paris to pursue a career in acting, starting with unpaid parts on stage in the city's various theatre workshops. From ages 12–20 he set type as a typographer, then studied mime in his early 20s. In 1948 he made his motion picture debut with one of the secondary roles in the film, Les Dieux du dimanche. Within a few years, Robert was writing scripts, directing, and producing.
Yves Robert's directorial efforts included several successful comedies for which he had written the screenplay. His 1962 film, La Guerre des boutons won France's Prix Jean Vigo. His 1972 film The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe won the Silver Bear at the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival in 1973. In 1976, Pardon Mon Affaire, starring his wife, earned him international acclaim. Robert's 1973 devastating comedy Hail the Artist is considered by many performers to be the ultimate film about the humiliations of the actor's life. In 1977, he directed another comedy, Pardon Mon Affaire, Too!, which was nominated for a César Award for Best Film.
In 1990, Robert directed two dramatic films, My Mother's Castle and My Father's Glory. Based on autobiographical novels by Marcel Pagnol, they were jointly voted "Best Film" at the 1991 Seattle International Film Festival, and received rave reviews. Over his career, he directed more than twenty feature-length motion pictures, wrote an equal number of scripts, and acted in more than seventy-five films. Although his last major role was perhaps in 1980, A Bad Son by Claude Sautet, as the working-class father of a drug-dealer, he continued acting past 1997.
Robert played opposite Danièle Delorme in the 1951 play Colombe by Jean Anouilh. They married in 1956, and jointly formed the film production company La Guéville in 1961. La Guéville also released several films by Monty Python and Terry Gilliam, which was very influential into establishing the comedy troupe to French audiences. He died in Paris on 10 May 2002 from a cerebral hemorrhage. He was buried in Montparnasse Cemetery with the epitaph "A man of joy...", where visitors leave buttons of many colors. He was survived by Danièle and two children, Anne and, by first wife, actress Rosy Varte. That month's Cannes Film Festival paid homage to his contribution to French film.

Selected filmography

DirectorLes hommes ne pensent qu'à ça Neither Seen Nor Recognized Signé Arsène Lupin The Fenouillard Family La Guerre des boutons Bebert and the Train ' Monnaie de singe Very Happy Alexander Clérambard The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe Hail the Artist The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe Pardon Mon Affaire Pardon Mon Affaire, Too! Courage - Let's Run The Twin My Father's Glory My Mother's Castle
  • ' Montparnasse-Pondichéry
ActorLes dieux du dimanche - GuillotLe tampon du capiston - PastiniThree Telegrams - Sergent Gaston ChauvinBibi Fricotin - Antoine GardonThe Red Rose - Yves GérardJuliette, or Key of Dreams - L'accordéonisteTwo Pennies Worth of Violets - CharlotFollow That Man - Inspecteur PaulhanVirgile - EspositoLes hommes ne pensent qu'à ça - L'ancien combattant / Un marcheurService Entrance - CourbessacSchool for Love - ClémentLes mauvaises rencontres - L'inspecteur ForbinThe Grand Maneuver - Le lieutenant Félix LeroyThe Terror with Women - Le journaliste LabargeFolies-Bergère - JeffLes Truands, or - Amédée Benoit / Son pèreNeither Seen Nor Recognized - Le photographe ' - ChristianNina - Redon-NamurLe petit prof - Docteur AubinThe Green Mare - Zèphe MaloretSigné Arsène Lupin - La BalluLa Brune que voilà - Le mécanicienLove and the Frenchwoman - Traveller The Fenouillard Family - Le Coq The Passion of Slow Fire - Le barman / BartenderCléo from 5 to 7 - Le vendeur de mouchoirs Bebert and the Train - Chaussin - l'amant d'Henriette La communale - L'oncle HenriKing of Hearts - Le général Baderna An Idiot in Paris - Marcel Pitou, l'évadé des HLM / Man by the SeineThe Most Beautiful Month - Le cheminotClérambard - Le dragon qui entre chez la Langouste Le pistonné - Monsieur Langmann - le pèreLe Voyou - Le commissaireDistracted - Le locataire Le cinéma de papa - Henri Roger LangmannLe cri du cormoran, le soir au-dessus des jonques - Le commissaireLe Viager - Bucigny-Dumaine Les malheurs d'Alfred - L'observateur parisienL'aventure, c'est l'aventure - L'avocat de la défenseDear Louise - Magnetto, le marchand de cyclesRepeated Absences - Le père de FrançoisThe Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe - Le chef d'orchestre La raison du plus fou - Le contrôleur des chemins de ferHail the Artist - Le metteur en scène de théâtre La grande Paulette - Le voyageurThe Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe - Le chef d'orchestre Special section - Émile BastardTrop c'est trop The Judge and the Assassin - Prof. DegueldreLittle Marcel - Le commissaire ManciniIls sont grands, ces petits - Le père de LouiseWoman Between Wolf and Dog - WerkmanA Bad Son - René CalgagniLe rose et le blanc - Le barman des CaraïbesVive la sociale! - Jojo, le pèreWaiter! - SimonThe Twin - L'homme dans l'ascenseur Billy Ze Kick - AlcideLe Débutant - L'homme dans l'escalier Fucking Fernand - Le récitant des actualités Cher frangin - M. Durand, le patron d'AlainLe crime d'Antoine - PilouLe bal des casse-pieds - Les eaux dormantes - Le père La Crise - M. BarelleMontparnasse-Pondichéry - LéoLe nez au vent - PaphaëlSortez des rangs - Le marchand de marrons Disparus - Blaise
Producer'The Little Wheedlers The Crying Woman''

Reissues and remakes

His black and white adaptation of the book La Guerre des Boutons having sold nearly 10 million tickets at the French box office in 1962, was hugely popular, and planned for a nationwide reissue 12 October 2011.
Some films were also re-made in Hollywood. The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe, a spy spoof featuring the physical comedic skills of Pierre Richard, became The Man with One Red Shoe with Tom Hanks. Pardon Mon Affaire, a sexy farce with Jean Rochefort, became The Woman in Red.

DVD releases