Cinematic career

Hossein started directing films in 1955 with Les Salauds vont en enfer, from a story by Frédéric Dard whose novels and plays went on to furnish Hossein with much of his later film material. Right from the start Hossein established his characteristic trademarks: using a seemingly straightforward suspense plot and subverting its conventions (sometimes to the extent of a complete disregard of the traditional demand for a final twist or revelation) in order to concentrate on ritualistic relationships. This is the director's running preoccupation which is always stressed in his films by an extraordinary command of film space and often striking frame compositions where the geometry of human figures and set design is used to accentuate the psychological set-up of the scene. The mechanisms of guilt and the way it destroys relationships is another recurring theme, presumably influenced by Hossein's lifelong interest in the works of Dostoyevski.

In 1967 he was a member of the jury of the 5th Moscow International Film Festival. His 1982 film Les Misérables was entered into the 13th Moscow International Film Festival where it won a Special Prize.

Although Hossein had some modest international successes with films like Toi, le venin and Le Vampire de Dusseldorf, he was much singled out for scorching criticism by the critics and followers of the New Wave for the unashamedly melodramatic frameworks of his films. The fact that he was essentially an auteur director with a consistent set of themes and an extraordinary mastery of original and unusual approaches to staging his stories, was never appreciated. He was not averse to trying his hand at widely different genres and was never defeated, making the strikingly different spaghetti western Cemetery Without Crosses and the low-budgeted but daringly subversive period drama I Killed Rasputin. However, because of the lack of wider success and continuing adverse criticism, Hossein virtually ended his film directing career in 1970, having concentrated on theatre where his achievements were never questioned, and subsequently returning to film directing only twice. With two or three exceptions, his films remain commercially unavailable and very difficult to see.

Personal life

Robert Hossein is the son of André Hossein, a composer, and of a Jewish comedy actress from Soroca (Bessarabia) Anna Mincovschi. He was married three times: first to Marina Vlady (he has two sons with her, Pierre and Igor), later to Caroline Eliacheff (with whom he has a son, Nicholas). He is currently married to actress Candice Patou, with whom he has one son, Julien.

Conversion to Roman Catholicism

At the age of forty, Hossein was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church.

According to an article written by Emannuel Peze, Hossein experienced a conversion to Catholicism in 1971 during a visit to the Marian apparition at San Damiano in Lombardo Italy.

In 2007, he presented a piece entitled Do not be afraid of the life of Pope John Paul II. He has a special devotion to Saint Therese of Lisieux.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Director
1948	The Lame Devil	a guest	Sacha Guitry
	Aux yeux du souvenir	uncredited	Jean Delannoy
1955	Rififi	Rémy Grutter	Jules Dassin
1956	Crime et Châtiment (fr)	René Brunel	Georges Lampin
1957	No Sun in Venice (Sait-on jamais...)	Sforzi	Roger Vadim
	Méfiez-vous fillettes (fr)	Raven	Yves Allégret
1959	Toi, le venin	Pierre Menda	Robert Hossein himself
	Les Scélérats	Jess Rooland	Robert Hossein himself
	Du rififi chez les femmes	Marcel Point-Bleu	Alex Joffé
	The Verdict	Georges Lagrange	Jean Valère
1961	La Menace (fr)	Savary	Gérard Oury
	Madame Sans-Gêne	François-Joseph Lefebvre	Christian-Jaque
1962	Les Petits Matins (fr)	Edouard	Jacqueline Audry
	Le Repos du guerrier (fr)	Renaud Sarti	Roger Vadim
1963	Le Meurtrier (fr)	Inspecteur Corby	Claude Autant-Lara
	Vice and Virtue	Schorndorf	Roger Vadim
	Chair de poule	Daniel Boisset	Julien Duvivier
1964	Banco à Bangkok pour OSS 117	Dr Sinn	André Hunebelle
	Les Yeux cernés	Franz	Robert Hossein himself
	Angélique, Marquise des Anges	Jeoffrey de Peyrac	Bernard Borderie
1965	The Vampire of Düsseldorf	Peter Kürten	Robert Hossein himself
	The Dirty Game	Dupont	Christian-Jaque and others
	Marco the Magnificent	Prince Nayam	Denys de La Patellière and Noël Howard
	God's Thunder	Marcel	Denys de La Patellière
1966	Madamigella di Maupin	Capitain Alcibiade	Mauro Bolognini
	Angelica and the King	Jeoffrey de Peyrac	Bernard Borderie
	Brigade antigangs	Inspector Le Goff	Bernard Borderie
	La Longue Marche (fr)	Carnot	Alexandre Astruc
1967	I Killed Rasputin	Serge Hukhotin	Robert Hossein himself
	Lamiel	Valber	Jean Aurel
	Indomptable Angélique (fr)	Jeoffrey de Peyrac	Bernard Borderie
1968	Angélique et le Sultan (fr)	Jeoffrey de Peyrac	Bernard Borderie
1969	The Battle of El Alamein	Erwin Rommel	Giorgio Ferroni
	Cemetery Without Crosses	Manuel	Robert Hossein himself
	Life Love Death	as himself	Claude Lelouch
	The Scarlet Lady	Julien Auchard	Jean Valère
	Nell'anno del Signore	Leonida Montanari	Luigi Magni
1970	Le Temps des loups (fr)	"Dillinger"	Sergio Gobbi
1971	The Lion's Share	Maurice Ménard	Jean Larriaga
	The Burglars	Ralph	Henri Verneuil
1972	Un meurtre est un meurtre (fr)	Jean Carouse	Étienne Périer
1973	Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman	Louis Prévost	Roger Vadim
	Forbidden Priests	Jean Rastaud	Denys de La Patellière
1981	Les Uns et les Autres	Simon Meyer / Robert Prat	Claude Lelouch
	Le Professionnel	Inspector Rosen	Georges Lautner
1982	Le Grand Pardon (fr)	Manuel Carreras	Alexandre Arcady
	Les Misérables	not credited as actor	Robert Hossein himself
1986	A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later	as himself	Claude Lelouch
1995	Les Misérables	the master of ceremonies	Claude Lelouch
1997	The Wax Mask	Boris Volkoff	Sergio Stivaletti
1999	Venus Beauty Institute	the pilot	Tonie Marshall
2006	Trivial	Antoine Bérangère	Sophie Marceau
2009	A Man and His Dog	cameo appearance	Francis Huster

Honours

• France : Commander of the Légion d'honneur, 2005

Foreign honours

• Monaco : Commander of the Order of Cultural Merit (2006)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]