Jean-Pierre Cassel
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Jean-Pierre Cassel (October 27 1932 - April 19 2007) was a French actor.
Cassel was born Jean-Pierre Crochon in Paris, the son of Louise-Marguerite (née Fabrègue), an opera singer, and Georges Crochon, a doctor. Cassel was discovered by Gene Kelly as he tap danced on stage, and later cast in the 1957 film "The Happy Road". Then Cassel gained fame in the late 1950s as a hero in comedies by Philippe de Broca like Un monsieur de compagnie.
During the 1960s and 1970s he worked with Claude Chabrol (La Rupture), Luis Buñuel (as Stéphane Audran's husband in Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie), Ken Annakin (as Frenchman in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines), Gérard Brach (as Claude Jade's lover in The Boat on the Grass), Richard Lester (as Louis XIII - married to Geraldine Chaplin - in The Three Musketeers), Sidney Lumet (as Pierre in Murder on the Orient Express), Joseph Losey (with Isabelle Huppert in The Trout). In later years he appeared in Robert Altman's Prêt-à-Porter (1994) and also as Dr. Paul Gachet for Vincent & Theo (1990).
In 2006, at age 74, he climbed back on stage for a retrospective of Serge Gainsbourg entitled Jean-Pierre Cassel chante et danse Gainsbourg Suite. This homage to an old friend (he knew Gainsbourg in the 1950s) featured various songs of the famous French composer among which three unpublished songs named "Top à Cassel" -- "Cliquediclac", "Ouh ! Là là là là", and "Viva la pizza" -- all of which were intended for a television show aired in 1964.
In 2007, Cassel appeared in dual roles (as Père Lucien and the Lourdes souvenir vendor) in Julian Schnabel's film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
He was the father of Vincent Cassel, Mathias Cassel (also known as Rockin' Squat, leader of the French rap crew Assassin) and Cécile Cassel.
