Jean Raoul Robert Rochefort (French: ; 29 April 1930 – 9 October 2017) was a French actor. He received many accolades during his career, including an Honorary César in 1999.
Life and career
Rochefort was born on 29 April 1930 in Paris, France, to Breton parents. He was educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen.
Rochefort was nineteen years old when he entered the Centre d'Art Dramatique de la rue Blanche. Later he joined the Conservatoire National. After completing his national service in 1953, he worked with the Compagnie Grenier Hussenot as a theatre actor for seven years. There he was noticed for his ability to play both drama and comedy. He then became a television and cinema actor, and also worked as director.
After some supporting roles in Cartouche, Captain Fracasse and in Marvelous Angelique, Rochefort played his first big role with Annie Girardot as his wife and Claude Jade as his daughter in Hearth Fires in 1972. In this drama, he starred as a man who leaves his family for ten years before returning. In this film he played with 41 years a family father of adult children (the young Claude Jade was already 23). To appear older, he grew a moustache, his trademark, which he had removed only once in 1996 for Ridicule.
Four years after Hearth Fires he was the leading star of the midlife crisis comedy Pardon Mon Affaire as a man who risks his married life with Danièle Delorme for an affair with Anny Duperey. Thanks to the success of this film, Rochefort achieved big popularity. In 1972, he starred opposite Pierre Richard as Chief of Counter-Espionage Louis Toulouse in the Yves Robert comedy Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire, a role he reprised in the 1974 sequel Le Retour du grand blond, also directed by Robert. In 1998, he starred as "Fernand de Morcerf" opposite Gerard Depardieu in the mini-series Le Comte de Monte Cristo.
In his thirties during the shooting of Cartouche, he discovered his passion for horses and equestrianism. He was a horse breeder since then and owned Le Haras de Villequoy. His passion led him to become a horse consultant for French television in 2004. He won two César Awards: in 1976, Best Supporting Actor for Que la fête commence; and in 1978, Best Actor for Le Crabe-tambour.
Rochefort in 2013
In the eighties, he became the narrator of the French version of Welcome to Pooh Corner, replacing Laurie Main. This made him popular with children at the time and Disney hired him to record several audio versions of their classic movies. In the 1990s, he returned to comedy with Les Grands Ducs where he played alongside two other actors of his generation with a similar career, Philippe Noiret and Jean-Pierre Marielle.
He was set to play the lead role in The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, after being found as "the perfect Quixote" by director Terry Gilliam. Rochefort learned to speak English just for the part. Unfortunately, amongst other production problems, he began suffering from a herniated disc. Unable to film for months, production was cancelled. A documentary, Lost in La Mancha, was made about the failed production.
In 1960, he married Alexandra Moscwa, with whom he had two children: Marie (1962) and Julien (1965). With actress-filmmaker Nicole Garcia, he also had a son Pierre. Through his second marriage with Françoise Vidal, he had two children, Louise (1990) and Clémence (1992).
Death
Rochefort died on 9 October 2017 at the age of 87.
