Philippe Léotard born Ange Philippe Paul André LéotardTomasi August 28 1940 died August 25 2001 was a French actor poet and singer He was born in Nice one of seven children four girls then three boys of which he was the oldest and was the brother of politician François Léotard His childhood was normal except for an illness rheumatic fever which struck him and forced him to spend days in bed during which time he read a great many books He was particularly fond of the poets Baudelaire Rimbaud Lautréamont Blaise Cendrars He met Ariane Mnouchkine at the Sorbonne and in 1964 they formed the théâtre du soleil He played Philippe the tormented son of a women with terminal illness in the 1974 drama film La Gueule ouverte by the controversial director Maurice Pialat He won a César Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1982 movie La Balance One of his few Englishlanguage roles was a cameo in the 1973 thriller The Day of the Jackal and he costarred as Jacques in the 1975 John Frankenheimer movie French Connection II which starred Gene Hackman and Fernando Rey sequel to The French Connection Léotard died in 2001 of respiratory failure in Paris at the age of 60 He was interred at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris Description above from the Wikipedia article Philippe Léotard licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Login to comment!
