Philippe Noiret, 1930 - 2006.

French film star Philippe Noiret, whose trademark hangdog face delighted cinema audiences, has died, French authorities said on Thursday. He was 76.

Noiret was one of the most prolific and successful actors of his generation, starring in a string of cinema hits over the past five decades, including the hugely popular 1988 Franco-Italian comedy Cinema Paradiso...

Noiret made his film debut in 1955 in Agnès Varda's La Pointe Courte but did not really make his mark until 1960 where he played the downbeat uncle in Louis Malle's classic Zazie Dans Le Metro.

Reuters.

Updated through 11/29.

Well, since no one else out there has yet, let's add mention of Bertrand Tavernier's The Clockmaker and Coup De Torchon.

See also: the Wikipedia entry.

Updates, 11/24: Now this is more like it. Joe Leydon's must-read appreciation: "I count among my most prized memories an afternoon during the 1989 Cannes Film Festival when Noiret - looking grandly natty in a cream-colored suit - joined me for a long lunch on the patio of a posh hotel.... I tried very, very hard not to gush, and I think I may have succeeded."

Also, Fabien Lemercier for Cineuropa.

Update, 11/25: Alan Riding in the New York Times: "Noiret had a down-to-earth view of his own long career. 'When I think back, I see someone who has correctly executed his trade as an artisan,' the Paris daily Libération quoted him as saying. 'I have done a few difficult films as well as some not demanding enough. The average is not bad. I am a popular actor and I like that idea.'"

Update, 11/29: "He was a friend, a brother, a father. I owe everything to him." Bertrand Tavernier remembers Philippe Noiret in the LA Weekly. Via Movie City News.

Posted by dwhudson at November 23, 2006 2:01 PM