Sacha Pitoëff
1920 - 1990Pitoëff was born in Geneva, Switzerland, on 11 March 1920, the son of Russian-born parents Ludmilla (née Smanova) and Georges Pitoëff. Both of his parents were born in the city of Tbilisi (in modern-day Georgia), then a part of the Russian Empire. The Pitoëffs were prominent actors in France, Georges was a founding member of the Cartel des Quatre (Group of Four), a group including Louis Jouvet, Charles Dullin, and Gaston Baty, dedicated to rejuvenating the French theatre.
Sacha graduated from Lycée Pasteur in Neuilly-sur-Seine, outside Paris. He studied acting and stage direction under Jouvet at the Théâtre de l'Athénée.
During World War II, the younger Pitoëff followed his mother back to Switzerland, where he played his earliest roles. After the war he returned to Paris, becoming general manager at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord. He made his directorial debut with a 1950 staging of Uncle Vanya, which proved both a critical and commercial success.
He became a fixture of Parisian theatre in the 1960s, becoming the director of his own troupe. His repertoire included works by Jean Genet, Eugène Ionesco, Hugo Claus, Robert Musil, Anna Langfus and Anton Chekhov. With Romy Schneider, he staged The Seagull, Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters at Théâtre de l'Œuvre.
In 1967, he achieved his greatest success with a well-regarded production of Luigi Pirandello's Henry IV, which he directed and starred in, with Claude Jade.
Pitoëff played his first film role in 1952, in the omnibus film The Seven Deadly Sins. Appearing in over 50 films, he is probably best known for his performance in Alain Resnais's enigmatic Last Year at Marienbad (1960), as the unnamed man who may or may not be Delphine Seyrig's husband.
He was featured in roles of various sizes in such films as Henri-Georges Clouzot's Les Espions (1957), Peter Ustinov's Lady L (1965), René Clément's Is Paris Burning? (1966), and Jacques Demy's Donkey Skin (1970). He also appeared in several Hollywood productions, including Anatole Litvak's Anastasia (1956) and The Night of the Generals (1967), Mark Robson's The Prize (1963) and Dick Clement's To Catch a Spy (1971).
Toward the end of his acting career, he began appearing in horror films. His final role was as the bookseller Kazanian in Dario Argento's Inferno (1980).
For the last ten years of his life, Pitoëff was a professor at the National School of Theatre Arts and Techniques (ENSATT) in Lyon, where his students included Gérard Depardieu, Jean-Roger Milo and Niels Arestrup.
Pitoëff was married to French actress Luce Garcia-Ville, until her death by suicide in 1975. He had two siblings, actress Svetlana Pitoëff and writer Aniouta Pitoeff.
His height and distinctively-gaunt, lanky appearance may have been a consequence of Marfan syndrome.
Having suffered from depression in the final years of his life, he died in Paris at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital on 21 July 1990, at the age of 70.
Source: Article "Sacha Pitoëff" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Dossier 51
Michel Deville
François Marthouret, Roger Planchon
French diplomat Dominique Auphal is put under surveillance by an unnamed secret service. They wish to find a weakness in his life in order to control him politically. Auphal becomes "File no. 51": his private life is spied, analysed and commented.
Dossier 51
The Night of the Generals
Anatole Litvak
Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif
A German intelligence officer investigates a prostitute's killing in Warsaw during World War II. He lands on three major Nazi generals as suspects, two of whom are also involved in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler.
The Night of the Generals
Subversion
Stanislav Stanojevic
Nathalie Nell, Florence Giorgetti
A blind, paralyzed president uses his remarkable hearing and his corrupt daughter to keep his country in line. His beautiful, clever daughter works her own agenda while striving to be the equal of men. She appoints herself Chief of Firefighters and then commits arson to ensure that her job is needed.
Subversion
A Tale of Two Cities
Ralph Thomas
Dirk Bogarde, Dorothy Tutin
British barrister Sydney Carton lives an insubstantial and unhappy life. He falls under the spell of Lucie Manette, but Lucie marries Charles Darnay. When Darnay goes to Paris to rescue an imprisoned family retainer, he becomes entangled in the snares of the brutal French Revolution and is himself jailed and condemned to the guillotine. But Sydney Carton, in love with a woman he cannot have, comes up with a daring plan to save her husband.
A Tale of Two Cities
Anastasia
Anatole Litvak
Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner
Russian exiles in Paris plot to collect ten million pounds from the Bank of England by grooming a destitute, suicidal girl to pose as heir to the Russian throne. While Bounin is coaching her, he comes to believe that she is really Anastasia. In the end, the Empress must decide her claim.
Anastasia
Le château des Carpathes
Jean-Christophe Averty
Benoît Allemane, Sacha Pitoëff
In 1898, strange things happen in a castle not far from the small village of Werst in the Carpathian mountains of Transylvania. Twenty years earlier, the castle had been abandoned due to some nefarious dealings there but a shepherd sees smoke coming out of the chimney, which stirs up the village with whispers Chort (a demon) is now occupying the place. Count Franz de Télek, a visitor to the area, becomes intrigued by all this turmoil and decides to investigate. Made for French television and based on the 1892 Jules Verne novel of the same name.
The Carpathian Castle
The Prize
Mark Robson
Paul Newman, Edward G. Robinson
A group of Nobel laureates descends on Stockholm to accept their awards. Among them is American novelist Andrew Craig, a former literary luminary now writing pulp detective stories to earn a living. Craig, who is infamous for his drinking and womanizing, formulates a wild theory that physics prize winner Dr. Max Stratman has been replaced by an impostor, embroiling Craig and his chaperone in a Cold War kidnapping plot.
The Prize
Lancelot du Lac
Claude Santelli
Marie-Christine Barrault, Tony Taffin
This story is set in the 13th century, in Britain, where Lancelot, who was raised by Vivian, the Lady of the Lake, becomes one the Knight of the Round Tables and falls secretly in love with Guinevere, the wife of King Arthur, for whom he wants to accomplish many deeds.
Lancelot du Lac
Is Paris Burning?
René Clément
Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Boyer
Near the end of World War II, Gen. Dietrich von Choltitz receives orders to burn down Paris if it becomes clear the Allies are going to invade, or if he cannot maintain control of the city. After much contemplation Choltitz decides to ignore his orders, enraging the Germans and giving hope to various resistance factions that the city will be liberated. Choltitz, along with Swedish diplomat Raoul Nordling, helps a resistance leader organize his forces.
Is Paris Burning?
Les Espions
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Curd Jürgens, Peter Ustinov
A doctor at a run-down psychiatric hospital is offered a large sum of money to shelter a new patient. Soon the place is full of suspicious and secretive characters, all apparently international secret agents trying to find out who and what the patient is.
The Spies
