Yves Robert - Life and Career

Life and Career

Born in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, in his teens Robert went to Paris to pursue a career in acting, starting with unpaid parts on stage in the city's various theatre workshops. To support himself, he worked at a variety of jobs including that of a typesetter at a print shop. In 1949 he made his motion picture debut with one of the secondary roles in the film, Les Dieux du dimanche. Within a few years, Robert was writing scripts, directing, and producing.

Yves Robert's directorial efforts included several successful comedies for which he had written the screenplay. His 1962 film, La Guerre des boutons won France's Prix Jean Vigo. His 1972 film Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire won the Silver Bear at the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival in 1973. In 1976, Un éléphant ça trompe énormément earned him international acclaim. Robert's 1973 devastating comedy Salut l'artiste is considered by many performers to be the ultimate film about the humiliations of the actor's life. In 1977, he directed another comedy, Nous irons tous au paradis, which was nominated for a César Award for Best Film.

In 1990, Robert directed two dramatic films, My Mother's Castle (Le château de ma mère) and My Father's Glory (La Gloire de mon Père). Based on novels by Marcel Pagnol, they were jointly voted "Best Film" at the Seattle International Film Festival. Over his career Yves Robert directed twenty-three feature-length motion pictures, wrote an equal number of scripts, and acted in more than seventy-five films.

Robert married actress Danièle Delorme in 1956 who partnered with him in a film production company. They remained married until his death in Paris in May 2002 from a cerebral hemorrhage. That month's Cannes Film Festival paid homage to his contribution to French film.