Sacha Pitoëff

Sacha Pitoëff born Alexandre Pitoëff 11 March 1920 21 July 1990 was a Swissborn French actor and stage director Pitoëff was born in Geneva Switzerland on 11 March 1920 the son of Russianborn parents Ludmilla née Smanova and Georges Pitoëff Both of his parents were born in the city of Tbilisi in modernday 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 NeuillysurSeine outside Paris He studied acting and stage direction under Jouvet at the Théâtre de lAthénée 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 lŒuvre In 1967 he achieved his greatest success with a wellregarded production of Luigi Pirandellos 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 Resnaiss enigmatic Last Year at Marienbad 1960 as the unnamed man who may or may not be Delphine Seyrigs husband He was featured in roles of various sizes in such films as HenriGeorges Clouzots Les Espions 1957 Peter Ustinovs Lady L 1965 René Cléments Is Paris Burning 1966 and Jacques Demys Donkey Skin 1970 He also appeared in several Hollywood productions including Anatole Litvaks Anastasia 1956 and The Night of the Generals 1967 Mark Robsons The Prize 1963 and Dick Clements 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 Argentos 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 JeanRoger Milo and Niels Arestrup Pitoëff was married to French actress Luce GarciaVille until her death by suicide in 1975 He had two siblings actress Svetlana Pitoëff and writer Aniouta Pitoeff His height and distinctivelygaunt 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 PitiéSalpêtrière Hospital on 21 July 1990 at the age of 70 Source Article Sacha Pitoëff from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30