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Michel Bouquet

A remarkably prolific French actor, Michel Bouquet has been a regular presence on screens both big and small since the late 1940s, working with many of his country's finest filmmakers, including François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol. A native Parisian trained in stage acting, Bouquet started winning small film parts in his 20s, notably appearing in a minor role in the lauded historical drama "Monsieur Vincent" (1947). By the late 1960s, the casually charming Gallic actor had graduated to bigger parts, with a significant role in Truffaut's haunting drama "The Bride Wore Black" (1968), starring Jeanne Moreau. The following year, Bouquet portrayed the jealous husband of Stéphane Audran's character in Chabrol's tense thriller "The Unfaithful Wife" (1969), later reuniting with the actress and the director for "Just Before Nightfall" (1971), another well-received crime drama. Other standout roles for the versatile Bouquet include his turn as a callous industrialist in the scathing comedy "Le Jouet" (1976) and, much later, his performance as the Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir in the lush historical drama "Renoir" (2012), a part that reaffirmed his cherished status in French cinema. Michel Bouquet died on April 13, 2022 in Paris, Paris, France at the age of 96.