Michel Piccoli
Biography
Michel Jacques Daniel Piccoli was the son of Henri Piccoli, violinist and Marcelle Expert-Bezançon (1892-1990), pianist and daughter of the French industrialist and politician Charles Expert-Bezançon. In 1954, Michel Piccoli married actress Éléonore Hirt with whom he had a daughter, Anne-Cordélia Piccoli. In 1966, he married the singer Juliette Gréco, then in 1978 the screenwriter Ludivine Clerc, with whom he adopted two children of Polish origin, Inord and Missia.
Placed in an establishment for problem children, the commitments of the young Piccoli, are made in opposition to his maternal grandfather, senator of the Third Republic, financier of the Radical Party, and important industrial painter, accused by the trade union left and by Georges Clemenceau, of having intoxicated his workmen through lead white which causes lead poisoning.
Michel Piccoli then trained as an actor first with Andrée Bauer-Théraud and then during Simon. After an appearance as an extra in "Sortilèges" by Christian-Jaque in 1945, Michel Piccoli made his film debut in "Le Point Du Jour" by Louis Daquin. In the theater he distinguished himself with the Renaud-Barrault and Grenier-Hussot companies as well as at the Théâtre de Babylone. Noticed in the film "French Cancan" in 1954, he continued on stage and worked with directors Jacques Audiberti, Jean Vilar, Jean-Marie Serreau, Peter Brook, Luc Bondy, Patrice Chéreau and André Engel, and became also know in popular TV movies. Having become an atheist after a family bereavement, he met Luis Buñuel in 1956, and ironically took on the role of a priest in "La Mort En Ce Jardin". In 1959, he shot "Le Rendez-Vous De Noël", a short film by André Michel based on the short story by Malek Ouary "Le Noël Du Petit Cireur", in Algiers. The 1960s sounded his consecration, noticed in "Le Doulos" by Jean-Pierre Melville, he was revealed internationally with "Le Mépris" by Jean-Luc Godard alongside Brigitte Bardot. From then on, he toured with the greatest French and international filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel, Youssef Chahine, Manoel de Oliveira...
He began the 1980s with the interpretation prize at the Cannes festival in 1980, with "Le Saut Dans Le Vide" by Marco Bellocchio, and that of the Berlin festival in 1982, with "Une Étrange Affaire" by Pierre Granier-Deferre. . He worked with Jacques Doillon, Leos Carax, before trying his hand at directing. In 2001 he received the IX Europe Prize for Theatre. He was part of the jury of the 60th Cannes Film Festival in 2007, chaired by Stephen Frears. In 2011, he played in "Habemus Papam" by Nanni Moretti. The last film in which Michel Piccoli appears is the film "Le Goût Des Myrtilles", by Thomas de Thiers in 2013.
Politically committed to the left, member of the Peace Movement (communist), Michel Piccoli distinguished himself by his positions against the National Front, and mobilized for Amnesty International.
Michel Piccoli died on May 12, 2020 following a stroke in his mansion in Saint-Philbert-sur-Risle in Eure. His funeral takes place in Évreux on May 19, 2020, where he is cremated, his ashes are scattered within the family property.
Personal info
Gender
Male
Birthday
1925-12-27
Place of birth
Paris, Ile-de-France, France
Images
Cast
Contempt
1963
7.08
Spoiled Children
1977
6.30
Belle de Jour
1967
7.30
May Fools
1990
6.87
Topaz
1969
6.00
Max and the Junkmen
1971
7.10
The Things of Life
1970
7.09
Mado
1976
6.50
The Infernal Trio
1974
5.40
La Grande Bouffe
1973
7.20
The Last Woman
1976
6.10
Danger: Diabolik
1968
6.33
A Room in Town
1982
6.50
Masquerade
1965
5.00
The Witches of Salem
1957
6.90
The Sleeping Car Murder
1965
6.96
La Voleuse
1966
5.50
Is Paris Burning?
1966
7.20
The War Is Over
1966
6.30
The Passerby
1982
6.00
The Phantom of Liberty
1974
7.50
Hauteclaire
1961
2.00
Kiarostami in Close up
2000
0.00
Atlantic City
1980
6.80
Raining Cats and Frogs
2003
6.90
Themroc
1973
6.66
Death in a French Garden
1985
6.10
Strange Affair
1981
6.10
La Belle Noiseuse
1991
7.40
Godard's Passion
1982
5.90
On War
2008
5.00
La Lune
1985
0.00
The Milky Way
1969
7.04
Death in the Garden
1956
6.40
Diary of a Chambermaid
1964
7.10
Wedding in Blood
1973
6.30
Danger in the Middle East
1960
0.00
Passion in the Desert
1997
5.80
We Have a Pope
2011
6.79
Spy, Stand Up
1982
7.28
Liza
1972
6.20
The Prodigal Daughter
1981
7.20
Sugar
1978
6.70
Gardens in Autumn
2006
5.70
Walking a Tightrope
1991
4.80
Mauvais Sang
1986
7.15
Heartbeat
1968
6.40
The Prude
1986
4.90
Dangerous Moves
1984
5.90
The Veiled Man
1987
4.25
Le Coup de grâce
1966
5.00
The Duchess of Langeais
2007
5.40
The Supper
1992
6.64
Tykho Moon
1996
5.90
Beaumarchais the Scoundrel
1996
6.60
The Accuser
1977
5.70
Against Oblivion
1991
6.50
Actors
2000
5.80
Belle Toujours
2006
5.90
The Children Thief
1991
5.10
The Audience
1972
6.70
The Dust of Time
2008
6.50
Little Lili
2003
5.50
La Rumba
1987
4.80
A Leap in the Dark
1980
6.24
Sunday Buddies
1957
6.10
París-Tombuctú
1999
5.70
The Creatures
1966
6.43
Nothing About Robert
1999
6.08
Don't Touch the White Woman!
1974
5.50
F as in Fairbanks
1976
6.40
Libero Burro
1999
4.20
Claude Chabrol, the Maverick
2019
6.20
Le Roi Lear
2007
0.00
The Game Is Over
1966
5.10
Le Bel Âge
2009
4.40
Ten Days' Wonder
1971
6.30
Coming Apart
2017
0.00
Dillinger Is Dead
1969
7.07
Le bal des Casse-pieds
1992
5.80
One Hundred and One Nights
1995
6.20
The Day and the Hour
1963
6.70
Seven Deaths by Prescription
1975
6.10
Without Leaving an Address
1951
6.10
Torticola versus Frankensberg
1952
4.00
Going and Coming Back
1985
6.20
The Woman in Blue
1973
5.20
Malady of Love
1987
5.00
Holy Motors
2012
6.99
Everything's Fine, We're Leaving
2000
3.70
You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet
2012
6.60
Leonor
1975
5.60
Le Plus Heureux des trois
1957
0.00
Délire à deux
1968
0.00
The Black Angel
1994
5.60
Life Size
1974
5.60
Beneath the Rooftops of Paris
2007
6.20
Genealogies of a Crime
1997
6.70
Beyond the Door
1982
4.40
Un coupable
1988
7.50
The Assassination
1972
6.65
The Diary of an Innocent Boy
1968
6.00
Il bambino di Betlemme
2002
0.00
Long Live Life
1984
5.90
Speaking of Buñuel
2000
5.90
How Good the Whites Are
1988
6.00
Loonies at Large
1993
6.00
Sinners of Paris
1958
5.10
Amazons of Rome
1961
4.50
The World of Jacques Demy
1995
6.50
The Young Girls Turn 25
1993
7.10
Nathalie
1957
5.90
The Perfume of the Lady in Black
1949
5.00
Success Is the Best Revenge
1984
6.00
L'Été en hiver
1964
8.00
The Eyes, the Mouth
1982
5.50
The Monkey Folk
1989
6.50
Boxes
2007
5.30
The Distant Land
1987
5.00
Adieu Bonaparte
1985
5.80
Archipel
1993
2.00
All About Loving
1964
4.90
Godard by Godard
2023
7.80
Traveling Companion
1996
6.20
One Way or Another
1976
7.60
La Cerisaie
1982
0.00
Little Girl in Blue Velvet
1978
4.50
The Bellman
1945
6.90
The Uninvited
1969
5.90
Marx Can Wait
2021
7.40
Rene the Cane
1977
4.10
Climates of Love
1962
10.00
Martha and I
1990
7.00
Lines of Wellington
2012
5.80
Hello Cubans
1963
7.40
Dom Juan
1965
6.10
The Bit Between the Teeth
1979
5.60
Le divorcement
1979
6.00
Marie Soleil
1964
0.00
Portrait Of My Father
2010
7.30
Les joueurs
1960
5.00
Confused Feelings
1981
4.40
The General of the Dead Army
1983
5.50
Daughters of Destiny
1954
4.00
La Chevelure
1961
4.50
French Cancan
1954
7.10
The Taste of Blueberries
2014
0.00
Fire's Share
1978
5.25
Touch and Go
1971
4.60
Our Lady of Hormones
2015
5.30
Price of Love
1955
4.20
Shock Troops
1967
6.70
I’m Going Home
2001
6.90
The Nonentity
1986
6.10
Tödliches Geld
1995
0.00
Bête de scène
1994
6.00
Elsa the Rose
1966
6.10
The Prize of Peril
1983
6.40
Far West
1973
6.20
Paparazzi
1964
6.80
It's Not Me
2024
7.30
The Savage State
1978
6.20
My Love, My Love
1967
6.20
Le quadrille des diamants
1957
0.00
Le Doulos
1962
7.40
That Day
2003
5.60
The Beaches of Agnès
2008
7.70
Beast at Bay
1959
4.70
Party
1996
6.78
Le Matelot 512
1984
4.50
The Mark Of The Day
1949
8.00
Rupture(s)
1993
5.00
La Ruelle au clair de lune
1988
7.00
Magic Mirror
2006
6.30
2 x 50 Years of French Cinema
1995
6.40
Everything's Connected
2005
6.00
Rendezvous
1961
6.20
To Each His Own Cinema
2007
6.50
Once Upon a Time… Contempt
2009
8.00
Cesar and Rosalie
1972
7.20
The Dinosaur and the Baby
1967
6.00
Strauberg ist da
1978
0.00
Romy: Anatomy of a Face
1967
6.50
The Fate of Baron Leisenbohg
1991
3.00
La dragée haute
1960
0.00
Tout chante autour de moi
1954
0.00
The Incredible Mr. Piccoli
2017
6.90
Bardot et Godard
1964
6.10
Weak Spot
1975
6.17
La Belle Noiseuse: Divertimento
1992
6.50
La Nuit de Tom Brown
1959
0.00
Bad Liaisons
1955
6.00
Invasion
1970
0.00
The Night of Varennes
1982
6.80
Blanc de Chine
1988
0.00
Un amour de pluie
1974
4.40
The Price of Survival
1980
0.00
The Young Girls of Rochefort
1967
7.70
The Devil's Tricks
1966
5.50
Lady L
1965
5.80
Without Leaving an Address
1951
6.10
Scénario du film Passion
1982
5.60
A Man, a Real One
2003
6.80
Train de nuit
1994
5.00
The Emigrant
1994
5.90
Le Chalet sous la neige
1959
0.00
Agnès Varda: From Here to There
2011
7.90
The Grand Manoeuvre
1955
6.20
Chance at Love
1964
5.80
Tabarin
1958
4.00
Terreur en Oklahoma
1951
0.00
Chicago Digest
1951
0.00
La Leçon d'humour dans un parc
1951
0.00
Le Rendez-vous de Noël
1960
0.00
Croissance de Paris
1955
0.00
La France romane
1956
0.00
Café tabac
1964
0.00
Quarante fontaines
1961
0.00
Fumée, histoire et fantaisie
1961
0.00
Parisienne... Parisiennes
1962
0.00
Le Temps des assassins
1962
0.00
The Happiest Place on Earth
1999
1.00
Dios de monoambiente
2018
0.00
Adieu Philippine
1962
6.80
Woman in Chains
1968
7.00
Film Study 01
2025
0.00