Image of Sacha Pitoëff

Sacha Pitoëff

Sacha Pitoëff (born Alexandre Pitoëff; 11 March 1920 – 21 July 1990) was a Swiss-born French actor and stage director. Pitoëff was born in Geneva, Switzerland, on 11 March 1920, the son of Russian-born parents Ludmilla (née Smanova) and Georges Pitoëff. Both of his parents were born in the city of Tbilisi (in modern-day 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 Neuilly-sur-Seine, outside Paris. He studied acting and stage direction under Jouvet at the Théâtre de l'Athénée. 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 l'Œuvre. In 1967, he achieved his greatest success with a well-regarded production of Luigi Pirandello's 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 Resnais's enigmatic Last Year at Marienbad (1960), as the unnamed man who may or may not be Delphine Seyrig's husband. He was featured in roles of various sizes in such films as Henri-Georges Clouzot's Les Espions (1957), Peter Ustinov's Lady L (1965), René Clément's Is Paris Burning? (1966), and Jacques Demy's Donkey Skin (1970). He also appeared in several Hollywood productions, including Anatole Litvak's Anastasia (1956) and The Night of the Generals (1967), Mark Robson's The Prize (1963) and Dick Clement's 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 Argento's 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, Jean-Roger Milo and Niels Arestrup. Pitoëff was married to French actress Luce Garcia-Ville, until her death by suicide in 1975. He had two siblings, actress Svetlana Pitoëff and writer Aniouta Pitoeff. His height and distinctively-gaunt, 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 Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital on 21 July 1990, at the age of 70. Source: Article "Sacha Pitoëff" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.


Read bio at tmdb | Read bio at Wikipedia
Born:
Mar 11, 1920 In Genève, Switzerland
Movie/TV Credits:
42
First Appeared:
In the movie The Seven Deadly Sins 1952-03-27
Latest Project:
Movie Patrick Still Lives 1980-05-15
Known For
Poster of The New Avengers
Poster of Le système Fabrizzi
Poster of Bonne nuit les petits
Poster of Sherlock Holmes
Filmography
Movie Patrick Still Lives Dr. Herschell 1980-05-15
Movie Inferno Kazanian 1980-02-07
Movie Subversion Le Président 1979-05-28
Movie Dossier 51 Minerve 1 (voix) 1978-08-30
Movie Barry of the Great St. Bernard Sergeant 1977-01-30
Series The New Avengers Unknown 1976-10-22
Movie The Carpathian Castle Gortz 1976-12-19
Series Les Grands Détectives Arkabad 1975-04-21
Movie The Oil War Will Not Happen Essaan 1974-01-02
Movie Antigone Tiresias 1974-12-21
Series Graf Luckner Doktor Morgan 1973-02-20
Movie Diary of a Suicide Le geôlier 1973-03-22
Series Samedi soir Self 1971-01-09
Movie Catch Me a Spy Stefan 1971-09-06
Movie Le Bal du comte d'Orgel Prince Naroumof 1970-06-30
Movie Lancelot du Lac l'ennemi (voice) 1970-12-25
Movie Donkey Skin Le premier ministre 1970-12-20
Movie La ville en haut de la colline Egisthe 1969-01-01
Movie Katmandu Head of the organization 1969-09-26
Movie The Golden Claws of the Cat Girl Saratoga 1968-02-09
Movie Lagardère Philippe de Gonzague 1968-04-04
Movie Spray of the Days Pharmacist 1968-04-21
Movie The Night of the Generals Doctor 1967-01-29
Series Graf Yoster gibt sich die Ehre Prof. Ourbiche 1967-09-15
Movie Le système Fabrizzi Antonio Fabrizzi 1967-09-29
Movie Is Paris Burning? Joliot-Curie 1966-10-26
Movie Lady L Bomb-throwing revolutionary 1965-12-17
Movie The Prize Dranyi 1963-12-25
Series Bonne nuit les petits Dada (voix) 1962-06-02
Movie The Denunciation Malferrer 1962-07-18
Movie The Doll 1962-11-07
Movie Captain Fracasse Matamore 1961-04-21
Movie Vengeance of the Three Musketeers Felton 1961-10-25
Movie Last Year at Marienbad M – the other man with the lean face, the husband 1961-05-25
Movie Bouche cousue Jo 1960-04-26
Movie A Tale of Two Cities Gaspard 1958-02-07
Movie The Gambler Afpley 1958-10-26
Movie The Spies Leon 1957-10-10
Movie Anastasia Piotr Ivanovich Petrovin 1956-12-13
Movie Rasputin Le chef de la police 1954-07-19
Series Sherlock Holmes Unknown 1954-10-18
Movie The Seven Deadly Sins The pianist (segment "Pride") (uncredited) 1952-03-27