Jean-Pierre Cassel(1932-2007)
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
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).