Biography for
Jean-Pierre Cassel More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

27 October 1932, Paris, France

Date of Death

19 April 2007, Paris, France (cancer)

Birth Name

Jean-Pierre Crochon

Height

6' (1.83 m)

Mini Biography

He made his movie debut at the invitation of Gene Kelly, who cast Cassel in the 1956 Paris-filmed seriocomedy The Happy Road (1957). At least, that's what the press releases claimed; actually, the tall, elastic-faced Cassel had been plugging away in films on a minor basis since 1950. Shortly after, Cassel was perfectly cast in the naif title role in the 1958 film version of Voltaire's Candide. He has since been a stalwart in the comedies of director Philippe de Broca, nearly always playing latter-day variations of the ingenuous Candide. Since this time, he is the screen-lover of some of the best actresses like Jean Seberg, Brigitte Bardot, Claude Jade, Catherine Deneuve, Stéphane Audran or Marie Dubois. He played in Gérard Brach's The Boat on the Grass (1971) (1970) with Claude Jade and John McEnery. In 1974, Jean-Pierre Cassel added thousands of American filmgoers to his fan following with his appearances as the bumbling King Louis XIII in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge (1974).

IMDb Mini Biography By: Candide

Spouse

Anne Célérier	(30 December 1981 - 19 April 2007) (his death) 1 child
Sabine Litique	(1966 - 1980) (divorced) 3 children

Trivia

Father of Vincent Cassel, Olivia Cassel (deceased) and Mathias Crochon (aka 'Rockin Squat') from his first marriage and Cécile Cassel from his second marriage.

Father-in-law of Monica Bellucci.

Was originally scheduled to appear with his son, Vincent Cassel, in Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 (2008), before his deadly cancer disease in 2007. They previously appeared together in The Crimson Rivers (2000), Valse nocturne (1995) and Café au lait (1993).

Being good friends with Serge Gainsbourg for decades, he climbed back on stage at the age of 74 for a retrospective called "Jean-Pierre Cassel chante et danse Gainsbourg Suite", which featured three unpublished songs from the 1960s (2006).

Head of the French Actors Union from 1966 to 1974.

Born to Georges Crochon, a doctor, and his wife Louise-Marguerite Fabrègue, an opera singer, he grew up in Paris.

Studied acting at the Cours Simon.

Engaged to Françoise Dorléac in the early 1960s.

Has played both "d'Artagnan the Musketeer" and "Cyrano de Bergerac". In neither role, however, was he appearing in an adaptation of a literary work in which that character appears. In Cyrano et d'Artagnan (1964), he played "d'Artagnan". That film was not based on any of Alexandre Dumas père's novels, or on the play "Cyrano de Bergerac", which featured a cameo by "d'Artagnan". In The Return of the Musketeers (1989), he played "Cyrano", but Cyrano does not appear in any of Dumas's novels.

Appeared in Cyrano et d'Artagnan (1964), opposite José Ferrer. Ferrer's wife, Rosemary Clooney, was also aunt to actor George Clooney, who appeared in Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007), opposite Jean's son, Vincent Cassel. Clooney's role has also been parodied by his cousin, Miguel Ferrer.