Michel Piccoli
Acting • Born 1925-12-27 – Died 2020-05-12
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.
Filmography
269 credits
Contempt
Movie • 1963
Paul Javal
Spoiled Children
Movie • 1977
Bernard Rougerie
Belle de Jour
Movie • 1967
Henri Husson
May Fools
Movie • 1990
Milou
Topaz
Movie • 1969
Jacques Granville
The Things of Life
Movie • 1970
Pierre Bérard
Mado
Movie • 1976
Simon Léotard
Max and the Junkmen
Movie • 1971
Max, inspector
The Infernal Trio
Movie • 1974
Georges Sarret
La Grande Bouffe
Movie • 1973
Michel
The Last Woman
Movie • 1976
Michel
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Movie • 1972
Interior Minister
Danger: Diabolik
Movie • 1968
Inspector Ginko
Masquerade
Movie • 1965
Georges Sarrassin
A Room in Town
Movie • 1982
Edmond Leroyer
The Witches of Salem
Movie • 1957
James Putnam
The Sleeping Car Murders
Movie • 1965
René Cabourg, l'employé besogneux (Victime #2)
La Voleuse
Movie • 1966
Werner Kreuz
Is Paris Burning?
Movie • 1966
Edgar Pisani
The War Is Over
Movie • 1966
Inspector #1
The Passerby
Movie • 1982
Max Baumstein
The Phantom of Liberty
Movie • 1974
The Second Police Prefect
Hauteclaire
Movie • 1961
Serlon de Savigny
Atlantic City
Movie • 1980
Joseph
Kiarostami in Close up
Movie • 2000
as Self
Raining Cats and Frogs
Movie • 2003
Ferdinand (voice)
Themroc
Movie • 1973
Themroc
Death in a French Garden
Movie • 1985
Graham Tombsthay
Strange Affair
Movie • 1981
Bertrand Malair
La Belle Noiseuse
Movie • 1991
Edouard Frenhofer
Godard's Passion
Movie • 1982
Michel Boulard
On War
Movie • 2008
Le grand Hou
La Lune
Movie • 1985
The Milky Way
Movie • 1969
Marquis de Sade
Death in the Garden
Movie • 1956
Father Lizzardi
Diary of a Chambermaid
Movie • 1964
Monsieur Monteil
Vincent, Francois, Paul and the Others
Movie • 1974
François, médecin
Wedding in Blood
Movie • 1973
Pierre Maury
Danger in the Middle East
Movie • 1960
Brian Cannon
Passion in the Desert
Movie • 1997
Jean-Michel Venture de Paradis
We Have a Pope
Movie • 2011
Melville
Spy, Stand Up
Movie • 1982
Jean-Paul Chance
The Prodigal Daughter
Movie • 1981
Le père
Liza
Movie • 1972
Giorgio's friend
Sugar
Movie • 1978
Grezillo
Gardens in Autumn
Movie • 2006
Marie, la mère de Vincent
Walking a Tightrope
Movie • 1991
Marcel Spadice
Mauvais Sang
Movie • 1986
Marc
Heartbeat
Movie • 1968
Charles
The Prude
Movie • 1986
Pierre
Dangerous Moves
Movie • 1984
Akiva Liebskind
The Veiled Man
Movie • 1987
Kassar
Le Coup de grâce
Movie • 1966
Capri / Bruno
The Duchess of Langeais
Movie • 2007
Vidame de Pamiers
The Supper
Movie • 1992
Chateaubriand (voice)
Tykho Moon
Movie • 1996
Mac Bee / frère Mac Bee
Beaumarchais the Scoundrel
Movie • 1996
Prince de Conti
The Accuser
Movie • 1977
Saint-Ramé
Against Oblivion
Movie • 1991
Self
Actors
Movie • 2000
Michel Piccoli
The Children Thief
Movie • 1991
Mr. Armand
Belle Toujours
Movie • 2006
Henri Husson
The Audience
Movie • 1972
Padre Amerin
The Dust of Time
Movie • 2008
Spyros
La Rumba
Movie • 1987
Damien Malleville
Little Lili
Movie • 2003
acteur qui joue Simon
A Leap in the Dark
Movie • 1980
Mauro Ponticelli
Sunday Buddies
Movie • 1957
Le directeur de l'aéro-club
París-Tombuctú
Movie • 1999
Michel des Assantes
The Creatures
Movie • 1966
Edgar Piccoli
Nothing About Robert
Movie • 1999
Lord Ariel Chatwick-West
Don't Touch the White Woman!
Movie • 1974
Buffalo Bill
F as in Fairbanks
Movie • 1976
Etienne
Libero Burro
Movie • 1999
Zio Tony
Claude Chabrol, the Maverick
Movie • 2019
Self - Actor (archive footage)
Le Roi Lear
Movie • 2007
Le roi Lear
The Game Is Over
Movie • 1966
Alexandre Saccard
Le Bel Âge
Movie • 2009
Maurice Reverdy
Ten Days' Wonder
Movie • 1971
Paul Regis
Coming Apart
Movie • 2017
(archive footage)
Dillinger Is Dead
Movie • 1969
Glauco
Le Bal des casse-pieds
Movie • 1992
Désiré, l'homosexuel
One Hundred and One Nights
Movie • 1995
Simon Cinéma
The Day and the Hour
Movie • 1963
Antoine
Seven Deaths by Prescription
Movie • 1975
Dr Losseray
My Brother-in-law Killed My Sister
Movie • 1986
Étienne Sembadel
Il était une fois... Vincent, François, Paul et les autres
Movie • 2011
Self
Without Leaving an Address
Movie • 1951
Un journaliste aux archives (uncredited)
Torticola versus Frankensberg
Movie • 1952
Torticola
Will the High Salaried Workers Raise Their Hands!
Movie • 1982
José Viss
Going and Coming Back
Movie • 1985
Simon Lerner
The Woman in Blue
Movie • 1973
Pierre
Malady of Love
Movie • 1987
Raoul Bergeron
Holy Motors
Movie • 2012
Man with the Wine Stain
Atrocious Tales of Love and Death
Movie • 1979
Victor Navarro
Everything's Fine, We're Leaving
Movie • 2000
Louis
You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet
Movie • 2012
Le père
Leonor
Movie • 1975
Richard
Le Plus Heureux des trois
Movie • 1957
Pianist
Délire à deux
Movie • 1968
Him
The Black Angel
Movie • 1994
Georges Feuvrier
Life Size
Movie • 1974
Michel
Beneath the Rooftops of Paris
Movie • 2007
Marcel
Genealogies of a Crime
Movie • 1997
Georges Didier
Beyond the Door
Movie • 1982
Mr. Mutti
Du crime considéré comme un des beaux-arts.
Movie • 1981
Morrand
Un coupable
Movie • 1988
L'avocat
The Assassination
Movie • 1972
Colonel Kassar
The Diary of an Innocent Boy
Movie • 1968
Count Philippe
Il bambino di Betlemme
Movie • 2002
Long Live Life
Movie • 1984
Michel Perrin
Speaking of Buñuel
Movie • 2000
Self
How Good the Whites Are
Movie • 1988
Père Jean-Marie
Loonies at Large
Movie • 1993
Henri Toussaint
Sinners of Paris
Movie • 1958
L'inspecteur Vardier, de la P.J.
Amazons of Rome
Movie • 1961
Console Publicola
The World of Jacques Demy
Movie • 1995
Self
The Young Girls Turn 25
Movie • 1993
Self (archive footage)
Nathalie
Movie • 1957
Franck Marchal
The Perfume of the Lady in Black
Movie • 1949
Lebel
Success Is the Best Revenge
Movie • 1984
French Official
L'Été en hiver
Movie • 1964
Jean, the Reporter
The Eyes, the Mouth
Movie • 1982
Tío Agostino
The Monkey Folk
Movie • 1989
Boxes
Movie • 2007
Daddy
The Distant Land
Movie • 1987
Friedrich Hofreiter
Adieu Bonaparte
Movie • 1985
Caffarelli
Archipel
Movie • 1993
Leonard Wilde
All About Loving
Movie • 1964
Raoul
Godard by Godard
Movie • 2023
Self (archive footage)
Traveling Companion
Movie • 1996
Cosimo
François Mitterrand & Anne Pingeot: Pieces of a Love Story
Movie • 2021
Self (archive footage)
One Way or Another
Movie • 1976
Lui
La Cerisaie
Movie • 1982
Léonid
Little Girl in Blue Velvet
Movie • 1978
Conrad Brukner
The Bellman
Movie • 1945
Un villageois
The Uninvited
Movie • 1969
François Desailly
Marx Can Wait
Movie • 2021
Agostino (archive footage) (uncredited)
Rene the Cane
Movie • 1977
Ispettore Marchand
Climates of Love
Movie • 1962
François
Martha and I
Movie • 1990
Ernst
Lines of Wellington
Movie • 2012
Leópold Scheitzer
Hello Cubans
Movie • 1963
Narrator (voice)
Dom Juan
Movie • 1965
Dom Juan
The Bit Between the Teeth
Movie • 1979
Pierre Chazerand
Le Divorcement
Movie • 1979
Philippe
Marie Soleil
Movie • 1964
Kafka
Portrait Of My Father
Movie • 2010
Self
Les Joueurs
Movie • 1960
Chvokhniev
Confused Feelings
Movie • 1981
Professor
The General of the Dead Army
Movie • 1983
Benetandi
Daughters of Destiny
Movie • 1954
Pasquerel (segment "Jeanne")
La Chevelure
Movie • 1961
L'homme
French Cancan
Movie • 1955
Le Capitaine Valorgueil
The Taste of Blueberries
Movie • 2014
Michel
Fire's Share
Movie • 1978
Robert Hansen
Touch and Go
Movie • 1971
Valentin
La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président
Movie • 2022
Self (archive footage)
Our Lady of Hormones
Movie • 2015
Narrator
Price of Love
Movie • 1955
Georges
Romy Schneider, étrange étrangère
Movie • 2002
Self
Claude Sautet, Romy, Yves, Michel et les autres
Movie • 2017
Self (archive footage)
Shock Troops
Movie • 1967
L'homme de trop
I’m Going Home
Movie • 2001
Gilbert Valence
The Nonentity
Movie • 1986
der Tölpel
Tödliches Geld
Movie • 1995
Paul Belmont
Bête de scène
Movie • 1994
Elsa the Rose
Movie • 1966
Narrator (voice)
The Prize of Peril
Movie • 1983
Frédéric Mallaire
Far West
Movie • 1973
Indian chief
Paparazzi
Movie • 1964
Texte dit par (voice)
Ernst Thälmann – Leader of the Working Class
Movie • 1955
Maurice Rouger
It's Not Me
Movie • 2024
(archive footage)
The Savage State
Movie • 1978
Orlaville
My Love, My Love
Movie • 1967
Marrades
Le Quadrille des diamants
Movie • 1957
Richard Burke
Le Doulos
Movie • 1962
Nuttheccio
That Day
Movie • 2003
Harald
The Beaches of Agnès
Movie • 2008
Self (archive footage)
Luis Buñuel : Un cinéaste de notre temps
Movie • 1964
Narrator (voice)
Beast at Bay
Movie • 1959
Commissioner Jacques Guimard
Party
Movie • 1996
Michel
Le Matelot 512
Movie • 1984
Narrator (voice)
The Mark of the Day
Movie • 1949
Georges Gohelle
Otar Iosseliani, le merle siffleur
Movie • 2006
Himself
Rupture(s)
Movie • 1993
Paul
La Ruelle au clair de lune
Movie • 1988
Pierre Willer
Magic Mirror
Movie • 2006
Prof. Heschel
2 x 50 Years of French Cinema
Movie • 1995
Self
Everything's Connected
Movie • 2005
Narrator
Rendezvous
Movie • 1961
Paul
To Each His Own Cinema
Movie • 2007
Nikita Kruschev (segment "Rencontre unique")
Once Upon a Time… Contempt
Movie • 2009
Self
Cesar and Rosalie
Movie • 1972
Narrator (voice)
The Dinosaur and the Baby
Movie • 1967
Paul Javal (archive footage)
Strauberg ist da
Movie • 1978
Strauberg
Romy: Anatomy of a Face
Movie • 1967
Self
The Fate of Baron Leisenbohg
Movie • 1991
Le baron de Leisenbohg
La dragée haute
Movie • 1960
Hugo Barsac
Tout chante autour de moi
Movie • 1954
Reverdier
The Incredible Mr. Piccoli
Movie • 2017
Self - Actor (archive footage)
Bardot et Godard
Movie • 1964
Self
Weak Spot
Movie • 1975
L'enquêteur
La Belle Noiseuse: Divertimento
Movie • 1992
Edouard Frenhofer
Berau, sur les traces de Joseph Conrad
Movie • 1994
Presenter
La Nuit de Tom Brown
Movie • 1959
Tom Brown, jeune
Bad Liaisons
Movie • 1955
un inspecteur
Invasion
Movie • 1970
Marcello
That Night of Varennes
Movie • 1982
King Louis XVI (uncredited)
The Voyage Into the Whirlpool Has Begun
Movie • 1974
Blanc de Chine
Movie • 1988
Batz
Un amour de pluie
Movie • 1974
Mr. Dellerue (voice)
The Price of Survival
Movie • 1980
René Winterhalter
The Young Girls of Rochefort
Movie • 1967
Simon Dame
The Devil's Tricks
Movie • 1966
L'antiquaire
Lady L
Movie • 1965
Lecoeur
Without Leaving an Address
Movie • 1951
Un journaliste aux archives
Scénario du film Passion
Movie • 1982
Self
A Man, a Real One
Movie • 2003
Michel Piccoli
Train de nuit
Movie • 1994
The Emigrant
Movie • 1994
Adam - Ram's father
Marco Ferreri: Dangerous But Necessary
Movie • 2017
Self (archive footage)
Le Chalet sous la neige
Movie • 1959
Robert
Agnès Varda: From Here to There
Movie • 2011
Self
The Grand Manoeuvre
Movie • 1955
Officer (uncredited)
Chance at Love
Movie • 1964
Philippe Decharme (segment "Lucky la chance")
Tabarin
Movie • 1958
Jacques Forestier
Terreur en Oklahoma
Movie • 1951
Tommy Goudchote
La Leçon d'humour dans un parc
Movie • 1951
Chicago Digest
Movie • 1951
Slim Spring
Saint-Tropez, devoirs de vacances
Movie • 1954
Gérard
Croissance de Paris
Movie • 1955
Récitant (voice)
La France romane
Movie • 1956
Récitant (voice)
Le Rendez-vous de Noël
Movie • 1960
Fumée, histoire et fantaisie
Movie • 1961
Quarante fontaines
Movie • 1961
Récitant (voice)
Parisienne... Parisiennes
Movie • 1962
Récitant (voice)
Le Temps des assassins
Movie • 1962
Récitant (voice)
Café tabac
Movie • 1964
Récitant (voice)
The Happiest Place on Earth
Movie • 1999
Récitant (voice)
Dios de monoambiente
Movie • 2018
Self (archive footage)
Adieu Philippine
Movie • 1962
Izquierdo dans l'émission de télévision 'Montserrat' (uncredited)
Woman in Chains
Movie • 1968
L'invité pressé au vernissage (uncredited)
Un divertissement et Michel Piccoli
Movie • 2004
Self
Horizons...
Movie • 1953
un ouvrier
That Obscure Object of Desire
Movie • 1977
Mathieu Faber (voice) (uncredited)
The Life of Mirrors
Movie • 2025
Ousmane Sow
Movie • 1996
Narrateur
Les paradoxes de Buñuel
Movie • 1998
Self
From Time to Time
Movie • 1992
Jules Verne
Brigitte Bardot: The Icon of France
Movie • 2009
Agnès Varda: From Here to There
TV • 2011
Self
Nulle part ailleurs
TV • 1987
Self
Wetten, dass..?
TV • 1981
Self
V.I.P. Schaukel
TV • 1971
Self
Spécial cinéma
TV • 1974
Self
German Film Award
TV • 1951
Self
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
TV • 1975
Self
Champs-Elysées
TV • 1982
Self
Il était une fois Champs-Élysées
TV • 2022
Self (archive footage)
Midi Première
TV • 1975
Self
Apostrophes
TV • 1975
Self
Docteur Teyran
TV • 1980
Jean Teyran
Treffpunkte
TV • 1970
Self
Vivement dimanche
TV • 1998
Self
Midi trente
TV • 1972
Self
Samedi soir
TV • 1971
Self
Nouvelles d'Henry James
TV • 1976
Capitaine Roger
Les Grandes Familles
TV • 1989
Noël Schoudler