Sacha Pitoëff

Sacha Pitoëff
Pitoëff in Anastasia (1956)
Born	Alexandre Pitoëff (1920-03-11)11 March 1920 Geneva, Switzerland
Died	21 July 1990(1990-07-21) (aged 70) Paris, France
Nationality	French
Education	Lycée Pasteur Théâtre de l'Athénée
Occupations	Actor director
Years active	1952–1980
Spouse	Luce Garcia-Ville
Parent(s)	Georges Pitoëff Ludmilla Pitoëff

Sacha Pitoëff (born Alexandre Pitoëff; 11 March 1920 – 21 July 1990) was a Swiss-born French actor and stage director.

Early life and education

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.

Career

Stage career

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.

Film acting

Pitoëff (on the left) with Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff and Yul Brinner in Anastasia (1956).

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.

Personal life and death

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.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1952	The Seven Deadly Sins	Pianist	Claude Autant-Lara	Segment: "Pride"
1954	Rasputin	Police Chief	Georges Combret
1956	Anastasia	Pyotr Ivanovich Petrovin	Anatole Litvak
1957	La Polka des menottes	Eugène	Raoul André
	Les Espions	Léon	Henri-Georges Clouzot
1958	A Tale of Two Cities	Gaspard	Ralph Thomas	Uncredited
	That Night	Shakespearean Actor	Maurice Cazeneuve
	The Gambler	Afpley	Claude Autant-Lara
1960	Bouche cousue	Jo	Jean Boyer
1961	Captain Fracasse	Matamore	Pierre Gaspard-Huit
	The Three Musketeers	John Felton	Bernard Borderie
	Last Year at Marienbad	The Second Man	Alain Resnais
1962	La Poupée	Alexandre Sayas	Jacques Baratier
	La Dénonciation	Commissioner Malferrer	Jacques Doniol-Valcroze
1963	The Prize	Daranyi	Mark Robson
1965	Lady L	Revolutionary	Peter Ustinov
1966	Is Paris Burning?	Frédéric Joliot-Curie	René Clément
1967	The Night of the Generals	Dr. Lipinski	Anatole Litvak
1968	L'écume des jours	Pharmacist	Charles Belmont
	La louve solitaire	Saratoga	Edouard Logereau
1969	The Pleasure Pit	Calzo	André Cayatte
1970	The Ball of Count Orgel	Prince Naroumouf	Marc Allégret
	Donkey Skin	Prime Minister	Jacques Demy
1971	To Catch a Spy	Stefan	Dick Clement
1972	Escape to the Sun		Menahem Golan
	Le journal d'un suicidé	Jailer	Stanislav Stanojevic
1975	La guerre du pétrole n'aura pas lieu	Essaan	Souheil Ben-Barka
1978	Dossier 51	Minerve 1 (voice)	Michel Deville
1979	Subversion	The President	Stanislav Stanojevic
1980	Patrick Still Lives	Dr. Herschel	Mario Landi
	Inferno	Kazanian	Dario Argento

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1955	Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion	Bartender	Episode: "Camel Race"
	Sherlock Holmes	Constable Smith / Morgue Attendant / Gustav	3 episodes
1967	Au théâtre ce soir	Antonio Fabrizzi	Episode: "Le système Fabrizzi", also director
	Lagardère	Prince Gonzague	6 episodes
	Henri IV	Henri	TV movie, also director
1969	Une soirée au bungalow	Northover	TV movie
	La cravache d'or		12 episodes
1970	Le fauteuil hanté	Eliphas de la Nox	TV movie
1972	Schulmeister, espion de l'empereur	Dangberg	Episode: "Schulmeister contre Schulmeister"
	Comme il vous plaira	Jacques de Boys	TV movie
	Antigone	Tiresias
	Graf Luckner	Dr. Morgan	Episode: "Der Jazzsänger"
1973	Byron libérateur de la Grèce ou Le jardin des héros	Baron de Blaquiere	TV movie
	Incident à Vichy	Prince von Berg
	Arsène Lupin	Ignateff	Episode: "L'écharpe de soie rouge"
1974	Graf Yoster	Professor Ourbiche	Episode: "Die Feuer-Probe"
	Des lauriers pour Lila	Professor Hassman	5 episodes
	Notre correspondant à Madras	Jim Sieger	TV movie
1975	Les grands détectives	Arkabad	Episode: "Nick Carter: Mission secrète"
1976	La poupée sanglante	Dr. Sahib Khan	6 episodes
	Le château des Carpathes	Gortz	TV movie
1977	The Magical World of Disney	Sergeant	Episodes: "Barry of the Great St. Bernard (Parts 1 & 2)"
	The New Avengers	Kerov	Episodes: "K Is for Kill (Parts 1 & 2)"
1979	La maréchale d'Ancre	Samuel	TV movie
1980	Louis XI, un seul roi pour la France	Drunk
1981	Les amours des années folles	The Abbot	Episode: "La femme qui travaille"

Partial stage credits

Year	Title	Venue	Director	Notes
1939	An Enemy of the People	Théâtre des Mathurins	Georges Pitoëff
	The Lady of the Camellias
1951	Vogue la galère	Théâtre de la Madeleine	Georges Douking
1953	L'Épouse injustement soupçonnée	Théâtre des Noctambules	Himself
	Dolorès au balcon
1953	Le Gardien des oiseaux
1955	Andréa ou la fiancée du matin	Théâtre de l'Œuvre
	Three Sisters
1956	The Lower Depths
1959	Uncle Vanya	Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
1960	Three Sisters	Théâtre de l'Alliance française
1961	The Seagull	Théâtre Moderne
1962	Ivanov
1963	Le système Fabrizzi
1964	Uncle Vanya
1965	Comme un oiseau
	The Cherry Orchard
1967	The Seagull
1967-68	Henry IV
1968	Der schwarze schwan
1969	Uncle Vanya
	The Caretaker		Jean-Laurent Cochet
1970	Henry IV		Himself
	Three Sisters	Théâtre des Célestins	Himself
1971	The Caretaker	Théâtre des Célestins	Jean-Laurent Cochet
		Tour
1972	L'Impromptu de Paris	Bellac Festival	Edmond Tamiz
1973	Le Borgne	Théâtre de l'Athénée	Michel Fagadau
1976	La Tour	Théâtre Récamier	Antoine Bourseiller

External links

• Sacha Pitoëff at IMDb