Hossein, Robert

(1927- )

   Actor, director, and screenwriter. Robert Hossein was born Robert Hosseinoff in Paris, the son of Iranian composer André Hossein. He studied drama at the René Simon School and later acted in the theater. He first appeared as a cinema actor in Sacha Guitry's Le Diable boiteux in 1948. He also appeared in Jules Dassin's Du rififi chez les hommes (1955). In the mid-1950s, Hossein acted, wrote, and directed his first film, Les Salauds vont en enfer (1956), a film noir starring his first wife, Marina Vlady. Hossein's next feature was Pardonnez nos offenses (1956). In addition to performing in his own films, Hossein maintained an energetic acting career. In the 1950s, he began working for Roger Vadim in Sait-on jamais? (1957), and Vadim would later cast him as a leading man in Le repos du guerrier (1962) opposite Brigitte Bardot. He also appeared in Vadim's Le Vice et la Vertu (1963), with Annie Girardot and Catherine Deneuve, and in Don Juan (1973), again with Bardot. In the late 1950s, Hossein directed Toi le venin (1958) and La Nuit des espions (1959), featuring Vlady, and Les Scélérats (1959), where he costars with Michèle Morgan.

   In the 1960s, Hossein directed Le goût de la violence (1961), Le jeu de la vérité (1961), La Mort d'un tueur (1964), Les yeux cernés (1964), Le Vampire de Dùsseldorf (1965), and J'ai tué Raspoutine (1967). In 1962, Hossein costarred with Sophia Loren in Christian-Jacque's Madame Sans Gêne (1962). Hossein was the lead actor, alongside actress Michèle Mercier, in Bernard Borderie's Angélique marquise des anges (1964). He later paired with Mercier in Borderie's "Angélique" sequels: Angélique et le roy (1956), Indomptable Angélique (1967), and Angélique et le sultan (1967). Hossein cast Mercier in his French Western Une corde, un colt. Also in 1967, he starred with Delphine Seyrig in Marguerite Duras's La musica. He costarred with Charles Aznavour in Sergio Gobbi's Le Temps des loups (1969).

   After directing Point de chute (1970), Hossein temporarily halted his career in the cinema to take over direction of the Théâtre Populaire de Reims. He acted in a few films in the 1970s, among them Jean Larriaga's La Part des lions (1971), where he costarred again with Aznavour, and Henri Verneuil's Le Casse (1971). In 1981, he returned to cinema with Les Misérables, which was nominated for a César for Best Adaptation. His last film as director, to date, is Le caviar rouge (1986). However, he has also acted in Claude Lelouch's Les Uns et les Autres (1981), Vadim's Surprise Party (1983), Yannick Bellon's Les enfants du désordre (1989), Gobbi's L'Affaire (1994), and Tonie Marshall's Vénus beauté (institut) (1998). He replaced the late Jean Yanne in Frédéric Auburtin's San Antonio (2003) after Yanne's death.

   Historical Dictionary of French Cinema by Dayna Oscherwitz & Mary Ellen Higgins