” I wrote two new shows, he confided in July 2016, at the age of 88. Before I die, which will not be long, I would like to ride at least one. I want to tell my vision of the gospels, to tell about Christ as I see him to give back some hope and joy in a terrifying time. At the end of my life, the only way to have the feeling of existing is to work for others to exist. I believe in man because I believe in God, but I believe in God because I believe in man. “
→ MAINTENANCE (IN 2008). Robert Hossein: “There are times when you have to know how to leave everything and start from scratch”
From the robust handshake to the delicate hand-kiss, Robert Hossein continued to resemble Joffrey de Peyrac, the character ofAngelique Marquise of the Angels which had earned him his wide notoriety in France and in the world.
The child of a Russian-Iranian couple
Son of a composer born in Samarkand and an actress born in Kiev, he was born in December 1927 in Paris under the name of Faridoun Hosseinhoff, in a loving but penniless family. His childhood is divided between modest furnished hotels and many Russian pensions, left when his parents run out of money.
At 22, he wrote his first play, Rogue, which he directs and plays. Then he continued to deploy these talents in all directions, stepping onto the stage under the guidance of other directors. After appearing in films at the age of 21, he got his first major role in Rififi in men by Jules Dassin in 1955.
Two first sons with actress Marina Vlady
The same year, he began a career as a director with The bastards go to hell. He married his main actress, Marina Vlady, with whom he had two sons and gave him roles in his following films – Forgive our trespasses, You, the venom, The Night of Spies. The couple also star in feature films by other filmmakers, such as Crime and Punishment by Georges Lampin.
Robert Hossein in 1964, in “Angélique marquise des anges”. / MaxPPP
In 1964, Robert Hossein played Joffrey de Peyrac for the first time alongside Michèle Mercier in Bernard Borderie’s film, a duet that they would repeat in the many sequels of this first success.
Pilgrims and actors flock to Lourdes
He founded the popular theater of Reims
After having played in about sixty feature films and having directed a dozen of them, Robert Hossein founded the Théâtre populaire de Reims in 1971. There, he gave beginners a chance, including a certain Isabelle Adjani, and applied in seventeen creations intended for to the greatest number an astonishing slogan: ” Theater as you will only see in the cinema. “
After having married in 1962, Caroline Eliacheff, the daughter of Françoise Giroud then aged 15, of whom he will have a son, and having lived with the actress Michèle Wautrin who will die suddenly in a car accident, he married the actress Candice Patou, very believing. During the baptism of their son Julien, this Orthodox Christian converted to Roman Catholicism. With his wife, he devotes a real passion to Thérèse of Lisieux and, together, they will meet Jean-Paul II. The couple will always remain very united: ” I am a happy man because I have been married for 40 years Robert Hossein told us with fervor.
Back in Paris, he created shows in interaction with the public in large venues such as the Palais des sports de Paris: Battleship Potemkin, Notre Dame de Paris, Danton and Robespierre for which he began a long collaboration with Alain Decaux. These large productions attract crowds (up to 600,000 people at the Palais des congrès for The one who said no, devoted to De Gaulle), but arouse mockery: they are based more on emotion than on reflection and encourage the viewer, comfortably seated in an armchair, to give his opinion on legal cases traced in broad outline such as the affair of the courier from Lyon or the death sentence of Marie-Antoinette.
He carries the message of his faith on the boards
In 1983, Robert Hossein took a new turn by publicly displaying his faith in A man named Jesus. Here again the public follows. While continuing to star in films and take the stage, Robert Hossein continues with Jesus was her name in 1991. In 2000, while taking the artistic direction of the Théâtre Marigny in Paris, he created the Palais des Sports Jesus the resurrection, then Don’t be afraid! John Paul II in 2007 and, a gift to the pilgrims, A woman named Mary in 2011 in a unique and free performance in Lourdes.
→ IN 2011. In Lourdes, Robert Hossein offered the first place to sick pilgrims
Robert Hossein on August 9, 2011 in Lourdes during a press conference to present his great show “A woman named Marie”. / Suire Thierry / PHOTOPQR / SOUTH WEST
He could not have mounted these last projects on the Gospels. ” I see death as a beautiful meeting, he said in his book I believe in man because I believe in God, published in 2016 by Presses de la Renaissance, because, in addition to Vadim, Barclay, Gérard Philipe, and all the rare beings that I miss terribly, I will see God face to face, him of whom I spoke so badly but whom I sought so much! “
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