French Film Noir Actors

1. Jean Gabin

Jean-Alexis Moncorgé started his career with 15 years at the theatre and debuted at the "Moulin Rouge" in Paris in 1929. Despite of his rude aspect he knew to be the gentleman of the French cinema in the time between the two World Wars. One of his most popular personalities was inspector Maigret. ...

2. Michel Simon

Actor | Le quai des brumes

The son of a sausage-maker, Michel Simon was conscripted into the Swiss Army at the start of World War I, but was thrown out through a combination of tuberculosis and general insubordination. He was variously a boxer, photographer, general handyman and right-wing anarchist, finally becoming a stage...

3. Louis Jouvet

Actor | Un carnet de bal

Louis Jouvet was a living glory of the French theatre where he debuted in 1910. In his life he has worked as pharmacist, manager of a theatre, actor and theatre teacher. He debuted at the movies in 1932 and his best films were of the Golden Age of French cinema called the "poetical realism", e.g. "...

4. Bertrand Blier

Writer | Le bruit des glaçons

Bertrand Blier was born on March 14, 1939 in Boulogne-Billancourt, Seine [now Hauts-de-Seine], France. He is a writer and director, known for The Clink of Ice (2010), Too Beautiful for You (1989) and 1, 2, 3, Freeze (1993).

5. Gérard Philipe

Actor | Fanfan la tulipe

In 1940 Gerard left school and his parents wanted him be a lawyer. But soon his mother noticed that he was only interested in acting, although his father was against the idea. After timely intervention from Marc Allégret, who decided he showed some promise, Gerard's debut was in Claude Dauphin's ...

6. Michèle Morgan

Actress | La symphonie pastorale

A classic beauty, blonde French actress Michèle Morgan was one of her country's most popular leading ladies for over five decades. Born Simone Renee Roussel on Leap Year Day (February 29) in 1920, she ran away from home as a teenager and studied acting under René Simon, beginning her film career at...

7. Véra Clouzot

Actress | Les diaboliques

Véra Gibson-Amado, known professionally as Véra Clouzot, was a Brazilian-French actress.

In 1941, Véra met French actor Léo Lapara, a member of the theater company of Louis Jouvet, who toured in Brazil during World War II. Vera married the actor, taking part in the company's South American tour that...

8. Jean Servais

Actor | Du rififi chez les hommes

Jean Servais was born on September 24, 1910 in Antwerp, Belgium. He was an actor and writer, known for Rififi (1955), The Longest Day (1962) and Le Plaisir (1952). He was married to Dominique Blanchar and Gilberte Graillot. He died on February 17, 1976 in Paris, France.

9. Simone Signoret

Actress | Les diaboliques

The face of Simone Signoret on the Paris Metro movie posters in March 1982 looked even older than her 61 years. She was still a box-office draw, but the film L'étoile du Nord (1982) would be her last theatrical release; she played the landlady. Signoret had a long film apprenticeship during ...

10. Lino Ventura

Actor | Ascenseur pour l'échafaud

One of France's most beloved character stars from the 1950s through and including the 1980s was the Italian-born Lino Ventura. Born Angiolino Joseph Pascal Ventura to Giovanni Ventura and Luisa Borrini, on July 14, 1919, in Parma (northern) Italy, young Lino moved with his family at a young age to ...

11. Jean-Paul Belmondo

Actor | Pierrot le fou

The son of the renowned French sculptor Paul Belmondo, he studied at Conservatoire National Superieur d'Art Dramatique (CNSAD); after the minor stage performances he made his screen debut in À pied, à cheval et en voiture (1957) but the episodes with his participation were cut before ...

12. Alain Delon

Actor | Le Samouraï

Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon was born in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, France, to Édith (Arnold) and Fabien Delon. His father was of French and Corsican Italian descent, and his mother was of French and German ancestry. His parents divorced early on, and Delon had a stormy childhood, being ...

13. Eddie Constantine

Actor | Alphaville: Une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution

Iconic American-born singer and actor in international films since the 1950s. Born in L.A. to Russian immigrant parents, Constantine studied voice in Vienna. He returned to the US, where his singing career wavered and he found work as a film extra. Constantine first achieved fame in Paris, where he...

14. Philippe Noiret

Actor | Nuovo Cinema Paradiso

Philippe Noiret was one of French cinema's most familiar faces who appeared in more than 140 films in a career that spanned more than half a century.

He was born on October 1, 1930, in Lille, Nord, France, into a middle class family of shopkeepers. His father was fond of literature. Young Noiret ...

15. Jeanne Moreau

Actress | Jules et Jim

When people gave Louis Malle credit for making a star of Jeanne Moreau in Elevator to the Gallows (1958) immediately followed by The Lovers (1958), he would point out that Moreau by that time had already been "recognized as the prime stage actress of her generation." She had made it to the Comédie ...

16. Jean-Louis Trintignant

Actor | Amour

Born 1930 in Piolenc in south France as son of a wealthy industrialist. Studied law in Aix-en-Provence. Started theatrical acting in 1950, but was regarded untalented at first, until Roger Vadim discovered him for the movies. When the press stalked him 1956 because of rumors of an affair with ...

17. Robert Hossein

Writer | Les misérables

The son of orchestra conductor André Hossein, Paris-born Robert Hossein was trained at René Simon's acting school. Hossein labored away as actor/director with the legendary Theatre Grand Guignol in Montmartre, then spent several years on the "legitimate" stage. In films from 1955's Rififi (Rififi (...

18. Michel Constantin

Actor | Le trou

Michel Constantin was born on July 13, 1924 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for The Hole (1960), Second Wind (1966) and Cops Is Cops (1972). He was married to Maud Serres. He died on August 29, 2003 in Draguignan, Var, France.

19. Catherine Deneuve

Actress | 8 femmes

Catherine Fabienne Deneuve was born October 22, 1943 in Paris, France, to actor parents Renée Simonot and Maurice Dorléac. She made her movie debut in 1957, when she was barely a teenager and continued with small parts in minor films, until Roger Vadim gave her a meatier role in Vice and Virtue (...

20. Robert Manuel

Actor | Du rififi chez les hommes

Robert Manuel was a long-time member of The Comédie-Française. He got his first part on stage in 1933 in Gabriel Pierné's "Fragonard" at the early age of eighteen, which allowed him to celebrate - as of October 1983 - the fiftieth anniversary of his debut. At the time he was playing Liberio Bocca,a...

21. Stéphane Audran

Actress | Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie

Stéphane Audran was born on November 8, 1932 in Versailles, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines], France as Colette Suzanne Jeannine Dacheville. She was an actress, known for Der diskrete Charme der Bourgeoisie (1972), Babettes Fest (1987) and Der Schlachter (1970). She was married to Claude Chabrol and ...

22. Michel Piccoli

Actor | Le mépris

This suave, elegant character star was a ubiquitous presence in French cinema for nearly seven decades. His distinguished career extended to both stage and screen and his versatility was such that he could take on just about any persona (in his own words: "I do not put on an act... I slip away ...

23. Patrick Dewaere

Actor | Un mauvais fils

Popular but troubled renegade French actor Patrick Dewaere was christened Jean-Marie Patrick Bourdeaux on January 26, 1947, at Saint-Brieuc in Britanny in the north-west region of France. The third of six children born to actress Mado Maurin (1915-2011), his mother made acting a family affair. All ...

24. Marcel Bozzuffi

Actor | The French Connection

Marcel Bozzuffi was born on October 28, 1929 in Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, France. He was an actor and director, known for The French Connection (1971), Z (1969) and March or Die (1977). He was married to Françoise Fabian. He died on February 1, 1988 in Paris, France.

25. Jean-Pierre Aumont

Actor | Lili

Another in the long line of dramatically handsome foreign imports who made an immediate impact on WWII Hollywood was debonair French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont. The epitome of grace and sophistication, the stylish leading man went on to have a long and respected career on stage, film and TV, both ...

26. Brigitte Bardot

Actress | Le mépris

Brigitte Bardot was born on September 28, 1934 in Paris, France. Her father had an engineering degree and worked with his father in the family business. Brigitte's mother encouraged her daughter to take up music and dance, and she proved to be very adept at it. By the time she was 15, Brigitte was ...

27. Paul Frankeur

Actor | Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie

Paul Frankeur was born on June 29, 1905 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), The Phantom of Liberty (1974) and Children of Paradise (1945). He died on October 27, 1974 in Nevers, Nièvre, France.

28. Pierre Brasseur

Actor | Les yeux sans visage

Pierre Brasseur was born on December 22, 1905 in Paris, France. He was an actor and writer, known for Eyes Without a Face (1960), Children of Paradise (1945) and Gates of the Night (1946). He was married to Lina Magrini and Odette Joyeux. He died on August 14, 1972 in Bruneck, Trentino-Alto Adige, ...

29. Madeleine Robinson

Actress | À double tour

Madeleine Robinson grew up in a struggling working class background but found her métier as an actress after attending the theater school run by Charles Dullin, six years that she considered the happiest of her life. The stage would stay her main love even though she would lend her striking ...

30. Roger Duchesne

Actor | Bob le flambeur

Roger Duchesne was born on July 27, 1906 in Luxeuil-les-Bains, Haute-Saône, France. He was an actor, known for Bob the Gambler (1956), Tarass Boulba (1936) and Tempête sur l'Asie (1938). He was married to Yvette Lebon. He died on December 25, 1996 in Les Mureaux, Yvelines, France.

31. Michel Duchaussoy

Actor | L'instinct de mort

Michel Duchaussoy was born on November 29, 1938 in Valenciennes, Nord, France. He was an actor, known for Mesrine: Killer Instinct (2008), Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 (2008) and Intimate Strangers (2004). He was married to Isabelle De Funès. He died on March 13, 2012 in Paris, France.

32. Yves Montand

Actor | Jean de Florette

Yves Montand was born on October 13, 1921 in Monsummano Terme, Tuscany, Italy. He was an actor, known for Jean de Florette (1986), Z (1969) and The Wages of Fear (1953). He was married to Simone Signoret. He died on November 9, 1991 in Senlis, Oise, France.

33. Maurice Ronet

Actor | Ascenseur pour l'échafaud

Maurice Ronet was born on April 13, 1927 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France. He was an actor and writer, known for Elevator to the Gallows (1958), The Fire Within (1963) and Purple Noon (1960). He was married to Maria Pacôme. He died on March 14, 1983 in Paris, France.

34. Charles Vanel

Actor | Le salaire de la peur

Charles Vanel was a French actor. His film career lasted for 76 years, from 1912 to 1988. He appeared in over 200 films.

Vanel often worked under famous directors, such as Luis Buñuel, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jacques Feyder, and Alfred Hitchcock. A career highlight was his role as truck driver Jo in ...

35. Peter van Eyck

Actor | The Longest Day

With his whitish blond crew-cut, slow, menacing drawl and Germanic manner, Van Eyck was destined to be typecast as stereotypically scowling, arrogant Nazi officers. This was ironic, because he was an avowed anti-fascist who had left Germany in 1931 -- two years before Adolf Hitler came to power. ...

36. Marlene Dietrich

Soundtrack | Witness for the Prosecution

Her father was a police lieutenant and imbued in her a military attitude to life. Marlene was known in school for her "bedroom eyes" and her first affairs were at this stage in her life - a professor at the school was terminated. She entered the cabaret scene in 1920s Germany, first as a spectator ...

37. Gian Maria Volontè

Actor | Per un pugno di dollari

Born in Milan in 1933, Gian Maria Volontè studied in Rome at the National Dramatic Arts Academy, where he obtained his degree in 1957. He began working in theatre and television, where he was soon noticed as one of the most promising actors of his generation. After several supporting appearances in...

38. Robert Stack

Actor | Written on the Wind

"Straight Shooting" -- whether skeet shooting, or portraying Eliot Ness -- Robert Stack always told it like it was, and shot straight. Born in Los Angeles, California, the younger son of James Langford Stack (1860-1928), the owner of an advertising agency, and Mary Elizabeth Modini Wood (1891-1975)...

39. Richard Crenna

Actor | Rambo III

Richard Donald Crenna was born in Los Angeles, California, into a modest-income family, the only child of Edith J. (Pollette) and Domenick Anthony Crenna, a pharmacist. His parents were both of Italian descent. His mother managed a small hotel in downtown Los Angeles, where Richard and his family ...

40. Marcel Dalio

Actor | Sabrina

Sunday, November the 20th is the anniversary of Marcel Dalio's death in 1983. It was the end of a serendipitous life. You know him. He was a citizen of the world. Born Israel Moshe Blauschild, in Paris, in 1900, he became a much sought-after character actor. His lovely animated face with its great ...

41. Mireille Balin

Actress | Pépé le Moko

Mireille Balin was one the most glamorous and best loved actresses of pre-war French cinema. She appeared in two of the best remembered French films of the 1930s: Pépé le Moko (1937) and Lady Killer (1937), both opposite Jean Gabin. After the German occupation of France and her ...

42. Jules Berry

Actor | Les visiteurs du soir

Jules Berry was born on February 9, 1883 in Poitiers, Vienne, France. He was an actor, known for Les Visiteurs du Soir (1942), Aventure à Paris (1936) and Le Jour Se Leve (1939). He was married to Josseline Gaël. He died on April 23, 1951 in Paris, France.

43. Arletty

Actress | Les enfants du paradis

Before Arlette-Leonie Bathiat went to the movies she was a secretary and had posed several times as a model for different painters and photographers. In 1920 she debuted on stage at a theatre. She only began to work in movies after 1930. After World War II she was condemned to prison for having ...

44. Simone Simon

Actress | Cat People

Diminutive, fiery-tempered Simone Simon was born in France, but spent much of her early childhood in Madagascar, where her father managed a graphite mine. Her schooling was somewhat unsettled, her family moving from city to city (Berlin, Budapest, Turin) before finally establishing themselves in ...

45. Isa Miranda

Actress | Le mura di Malapaga

Isa Miranda was one of the most significant actresses in Europe from the 1930s-'50s. Her remarkable talent expressed itself both in cinema and theater. She reached international popularity in the 1930s, especially in France, Germany and Austria, and became the only international movie star produced...

46. Serge Reggiani

Actor | Il gattopardo

The notably gifted, multi-talented actor, chanteur, poet and painter Serge Reggiani was born in Reggio Emilia, a town in northern Italy, in 1922. His father, a highly visible anti-fascist, fled his Mussolini-dictated homeland due to his fervent political activities and emigrated to France in order ...

47. Pierre Fresnay

Actor | La grande illusion

Pierre Fresnay was born on April 4, 1897 in Paris, France. He was an actor and writer, known for The Grand Illusion (1937), The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (1942) and Monsieur Vincent (1947). He was married to Berthe Bovy and Rachel Bérendt. He died on January 9, 1975 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, ...

48. Daniel Gélin

Actor | The Man Who Knew Too Much

Sensitive, boyishly handsome, dark-haired Gallic lead and character actor Daniel Gelin did not have an easy personal life but was warmly embraced as a talented star who appeared to fine advantage for such legendary directors as Max Ophüls, Louis Malle, Jean Cocteau, Alfred Hitchcock, and Claude ...

49. Isabelle Huppert

Actress | Elle

Isabelle Huppert was born March 16, 1953, in Paris, France, but spent her childhood in Ville d'Avray. Encouraged by her mother Annick Huppert (who was a teacher of English), she followed the Conservatory of Versailles and won an acting prize for her work in Alfred de Musset's "Un caprice". She then...

50. Isabelle Adjani

Actress | Possession

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani was born in Gennevilliers, Hauts-de-Seine, a suburb of Paris, to Emma Augusta "Gusti" (Schweinberger) and Mohammed Adjani. Her father was a Kabyle Algerian, from Iferhounène, and her mother was a Bavarian German. She grew up speaking German fluently. After winning a school ...

51. Daniel Auteuil

Actor | Caché

Daniel Auteuil was born on January 24, 1950 in Algiers, Alger, France [now Algeria]. He is an actor and director, known for Caché (2005), Jean de Florette (1986) and The Well-Digger's Daughter (2011). He has been married to Aude Ambroggi since July 22, 2006. They have one child. He was ...

52. Gérard Depardieu

Actor | Cyrano de Bergerac

Gérard Depardieu was born in Châteauroux, Indre, France, to Anne Jeanne Josèphe (Marillier) and René Maxime Lionel Depardieu, who was a metal worker and fireman. Young delinquent and wanderer in the past, Depardieu started his acting career at the small traveling theatre "Café de la Gare", along ...

53. Charles Aznavour

Actor | Tirez sur le pianiste

Beloved French chanson entertainer Charles Aznavour, who wrote more than 800 songs, recorded more than 1,000 of them in French, English, Italian, German and Spanish and sold over 100 million records in all, was born Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian on May 22, 1924, in Paris, the younger of two ...

54. Michel Serrault

Actor | La Cage aux folles

As accomplished and versatile the well-loved French actor Michel Serrault proved to be over the course of five decades, American audiences still remember this actor for one role only - that of the neurotic, outrageously flamboyant drag performer Albin (aka Zaza) in the side-splitting French gay ...

55. Michel Bouquet

Actor | Renoir

Michel Bouquet was born in the 14th arrondissement of Paris on the 6 November 1925. His father, Georges Bouquet, was a World War One veteran and a wine-maker. His mother Marie was a milliner. He had three older brothers: Georges, Bernard and Serge. Michel's father was always a shadowy figure in his...

56. Henri Attal

Actor | Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux

Henri Attal was born on May 13, 1936 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for Vivre sa vie (1962), Fantomas (1964) and OSS 117: Mission for a Killer (1965). He died on July 24, 2003 in Cucq, Pas-de-Calais, France.

57. Dominique Zardi

Actor | Jo

Dominique Zardi was born on March 2, 1930 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for Jo (1971), Delicatessen (1991) and Nada (1974). He died on December 14, 2009 in Paris, France.

58. Tony Wright

Actor | À toi de jouer... Callaghan!!!

Tony Wright was born on December 10, 1925 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Beside Murder (1955), The Saint (1962) and Callaghan remet ça (1961). He was married to Shirley Clark and Janet Munro. He died on June 7, 1986 in London, England, UK.

59. Robert Berri

Actor | Un sourire dans la tempête

Robert Berri was born on December 16, 1912 in Paris, France. He was an actor and writer, known for Un sourire dans la tempête (1950), The Three Musketeers: Part I - The Queen's Diamonds (1961) and Ein Lächeln im Sturm (1951). He died on November 22, 1989 in Rueil-Malmaison, ...

60. Erich von Stroheim

Actor | Sunset Boulevard

Erich von Stroheim was born Erich Oswald Stroheim in 1885, in Vienna, Austria, to Johanna (Bondy), from Prague, and Benno Stroheim, a hatter from Gleiwitz, Germany (now Gliwice, Poland). His family was Jewish.

After spending some time working in his father's hat factory, he emigrated to America ...

61. Maria Montez

Actress | Arabian Nights

In a world weary of war and dispirited by the ravages of the Great Depression, Hollywood at the turn of the 1940s concocted a wildly popular, effective lot of escapist fare (though often cheaply made) to regale the sick at heart worldwide. Universal Pictures, more often than not, led in producing ...

62. Raymond Pellegrin

Actor | Le deuxième souffle

Raymond Pellegrin was born on January 1, 1925 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France. He was an actor, known for Second Wind (1966), Imperial Venus (1962) and Woman of Rome (1954). He was married to Gisèle Pascal and Dora Doll. He died on October 14, 2007 in Garons, Gard, France.

63. Bernadette Lafont

Actress | Paulette

Bernadette Lafont was born at the Protestant Health Home of Nîmes in Gard, the only child of a pharmacist and a housewife from the Cévennes. Her mother always wanted a boy to name Bernard and, once she gave birth to a girl, she enjoyed to hold this against all the catholics she knew as the proof ...

64. Roger Hanin

Actor | Navarro

Roger Hanin was born on October 20, 1925 in Algiers, Alger, France [now Algeria]. He was an actor and writer, known for Navarro (1989), Hell Train (1985) and Le protecteur (1974). He was married to Christine Gouze-Rénal and Lisette Barucq. He died on February 11, 2015 in Paris, France.

65. Paul Meurisse

Actor | Les diaboliques

Paul Meurisse was the son of a bank manager and it first looked as if he would follow in his father's footsteps when he became a solicitor's clerk in Aix-en-Provence. But his passion was elsewhere and he soon did the splits appearing as a chorus boy in music-hall revues. Leaving Aix for Paris, with...

66. Dora Doll

Actress | Touchez pas au grisbi

Dora Doll was born on May 19, 1922 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress, known for Touchez pas au grisbi (1954), Maniac Killer (1987) and French Cancan (1955). She was married to François Deguelt and Raymond Pellegrin. She died on November 15, 2015 in Nîmes, Gard, France.

67. Jean-Pierre Mocky

Director | Litan

As an actor he became popular as Albert de Morcerf in a version of The Count of Monte Cristo (1954), fame and adulation followed with his Francois in Head Against the Wall (1959). As a director he became famous with anarcho-pictures, brilliant cynic comedies. His preferred actors in all decades were...

68. Paul Gégauff

Writer | Plein soleil

Paul Gégauff was born on August 10, 1922 in Blotzheim, Haut-Rhin, France. He was a writer and actor, known for Purple Noon (1960), Frankenstein 90 (1984) and This Man Must Die (1969). He was married to Danièle Gégauff. He died on December 24, 1983 in Gjovik, Norway.

69. Paul Frankeur

Actor | Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie

Paul Frankeur was born on June 29, 1905 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), The Phantom of Liberty (1974) and Children of Paradise (1945). He died on October 27, 1974 in Nevers, Nièvre, France.

70. Jane Marken

Actress | Les enfants du paradis

Jane Marken was born on January 13, 1895 in Paris, France. She was an actress, known for Children of Paradise (1945), La dame aux camélias (1934) and ...And God Created Woman (1956). She was married to André Marie Désiré Berthellemy. She died on December 1, 1976 in Paris, France.

71. Arletty

Actress | Les enfants du paradis

Before Arlette-Leonie Bathiat went to the movies she was a secretary and had posed several times as a model for different painters and photographers. In 1920 she debuted on stage at a theatre. She only began to work in movies after 1930. After World War II she was condemned to prison for having ...

72. Christian Marquand

Actor | Apocalypse Now

Christian Marquand was born on March 15, 1927 in Marseille, France. He was an actor and director, known for Apocalypse Now (1979), The Longest Day (1962) and The Flight of the Phoenix (1965). He was married to Tina Aumont. He died on November 22, 2000 in Ivry-sur-Seine, Val-de-Marne, France.

73. Michael Lonsdale

Actor | The Day of the Jackal

Tall, bearded, heavy-set Anglo-French character actor, best known internationally for playing Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel in The Day of the Jackal (1973) and Bond villain Hugo Drax in Moonraker (1979). The son of an English army officer (Edward Lonsdale-Crouch) and a Franco-Irish mother (...

74. Romy Schneider

Actress | L'important c'est d'aimer

Romy Schneider was born on 23 September 1938 in Vienna, Austria into a family of actors. Making her film debut at the age of 15, her breakthrough came two years later in the very popular trilogy Sissi (1955). Her mother, supervising her daughter's career, immediately approved Romy's participation ...

75. Anna Karina

Actress | Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux

Born in Denmark, she came to Paris at 18. She met Coco Chanel and Pierre Cardin and started as a top model. She met Jean-Luc Godard about a cameo in Breathless (1960), but she had to be naked and she refused to play in the movie. One year later, they wed and she became famous with the "Nouvelle ...

76. Danielle Darrieux

Actress | 8 femmes

Danielle Darrieux was born in 1917 in Bordeaux, France, to Marie-Louise (Witkowski) and Germain Jean Darrieux, a physician. She was raised in Paris. She was only fourteen when she auditioned for a secondary role in Le bal (1931): she got the part, and the producer offered her a five-year contract. ...

77. Howard Vernon

Actor | Le silence de la mer

Swiss-born actor Howard Vernon (né Mario Lippert) would make his infamous claim to fame as a stock lead player for the lowgrade, campy horror features of notorious director Jesús Franco, starring as Dr. Orloff, Dracula, and other terrorizers, most of them produced in Spain or France. Born in 1914 ...

78. Michel Blanc

Actor | Grosse fatigue

Michel Blanc was born on April 16, 1952 in Courbevoie, Seine [now Hauts-de-Seine], France. He is an actor and writer, known for Dead Tired (1994), Monsieur Hire (1989) and The Minister (2011).

79. Sandrine Bonnaire

Actress | La cérémonie

Sandrine Bonnaire was born on May 31, 1967 in Gannat, Allier, France. She is an actress and director, known for La Cérémonie (1995), To Our Loves (1983) and Vagabond (1985). She was previously married to Guillaume Laurant.

80. Jane Birkin

Actress | Evil Under the Sun

Jane Birkin was born on December 14, 1946 in London, England, UK. She was an actress and director, known for Evil Under the Sun (1982), Blow-Up (1966) and Death on the Nile (1978). She was married to John Barry. She died on July 16, 2023 in Paris, France.

81. Charlotte Rampling

Actress | 45 Years

Tessa Charlotte Rampling was born 5 February 1946 in Sturmer, England, to Isabel Anne (Gurteen), a painter, and Godfrey Lionel Rampling, an Olympic gold medalist, army officer, and colonel, who became a NATO commander. She was educated at Jeanne d'Arc Académie pour Jeunes Filles in Versailles, ...

82. Bruno Cremer

Actor | Sorcerer

Bruno Cremer went to Paris following high school. He always knew he was made to be an actor and his mother helped him. He was admitted to the Paris Conservatory. He rose to prominence in the theater playing in Shakespeare's "Pericles," Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband" and Jean Anouilh's "Poor Bitos...

83. Mario David

Actor | Fantômas

Mario David was born on August 9, 1927 in Charleville-Mézières, Ardennes, France. He was an actor, known for Fantômas (1980), Hell (1994) and Inferno (1964). He was married to Françoise Christiane Jeannette Cornu. He died on April 29, 1996 in Paris, France.

84. Jean-Pierre Cassel

Actor | Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie

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, ...

85. Daniel Gélin

Actor | The Man Who Knew Too Much

Sensitive, boyishly handsome, dark-haired Gallic lead and character actor Daniel Gelin did not have an easy personal life but was warmly embraced as a talented star who appeared to fine advantage for such legendary directors as Max Ophüls, Louis Malle, Jean Cocteau, Alfred Hitchcock, and Claude ...

86. Charles Boyer

Actor | Gaslight

Charles Boyer studied philosophy before he went to the theater where he gave his debut in 1920. Although he had at first no intentions to pursue a career at the movies (his first movie was Man of the Sea (1920) by Marcel L'Herbier) he used his chance in Hollywood after several filming stations all ...