Jean Dasté
Encyclopedia
Jean Dasté, born Jean Georges Gustave Dasté, (18 September 1904 in Paris, France - 15 October 1994 in Saint-Priest-en-Jarez
, Loire
, France
) was an actor and theatre director.
Although Jean Dasté is best known for his career on stage as both an actor and director in a variety of works including those by Shakespeare and Molière
, he made his first appearance on screen in a 1932 Jean Renoir
film (Boudu sauvé des eaux
), and 57 years later appeared in his final film at the age of 85. He played also the main character in two Jean Vigo
movies, L'Atalante
and Zéro de conduite
. Later, he worked also with Alain Resnais
and François Truffaut
.
He married Danish-born actress Marie-Hélène Copeau (1902–1994), the daughter of the influential French writer, editor, and drama critic Jacques Copeau
(1879–1949) and Agnès Thomsen.
In 1947, he became the founding director of the Comedie de St.-Etienne stage company in the town of Saint-Étienne in the Loire département
. The success of his theater was such that there is a college and a theater in Saint-Étienne named in his honor.
Saint-Priest-en-Jarez
Saint-Priest-en-Jarez is a commune in the Loire department in central France.-References:*...
, Loire
Loire
Loire is an administrative department in the east-central part of France occupying the River Loire's upper reaches.-History:Loire was created in 1793 when after just 3½ years the young Rhône-et-Loire department was split into two. This was a response to counter-Revolutionary activities in Lyon...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) was an actor and theatre director.
Although Jean Dasté is best known for his career on stage as both an actor and director in a variety of works including those by Shakespeare and Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
, he made his first appearance on screen in a 1932 Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...
film (Boudu sauvé des eaux
Boudu Saved from Drowning
Boudu Saved from Drowning is a 1932 French film directed by Jean Renoir. Renoir wrote the film's screenplay, from the play by René Fauchois...
), and 57 years later appeared in his final film at the age of 85. He played also the main character in two Jean Vigo
Jean Vigo
Jean Vigo was a French film director, who helped establish poetic realism in film in the 1930s and was a posthumous influence on the French New Wave of the late 1950s and early 1960s.-Biography:...
movies, L'Atalante
L'Atalante
L'Atalante is a 1934 French film directed by Jean Vigo and starring Jean Dasté, Dita Parlo and Michel Simon. It has been hailed by many critics as one of the greatest films of all time.-Plot summary:...
and Zéro de conduite
Zéro de Conduite
Zéro de conduite is a 1933 French film directed by Jean Vigo. It was first shown on 7 April 1933, and was subsequently banned in France until 15 February 1946....
. Later, he worked also with Alain Resnais
Alain Resnais
Alain Resnais is a French film director whose career has extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct a number of short films which included Nuit et Brouillard , an influential documentary about the Nazi concentration camps.He began...
and François Truffaut
François Truffaut
François Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five...
.
He married Danish-born actress Marie-Hélène Copeau (1902–1994), the daughter of the influential French writer, editor, and drama critic Jacques Copeau
Jacques Copeau
Jacques Copeau was an influential French theatre director, producer, actor, and dramatist. Before he founded his famous Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in Paris, he wrote theater reviews for several Parisian journals, worked at the Georges Petit Gallery where he organized exhibits of artists' works...
(1879–1949) and Agnès Thomsen.
In 1947, he became the founding director of the Comedie de St.-Etienne stage company in the town of Saint-Étienne in the Loire département
Départements of France
The departments of France are French administrative divisions. The 101 departments form one of the three levels of local government, together with the 22 metropolitan and 5 overseas regions above them and more than 36 000 communes beneath them...
. The success of his theater was such that there is a college and a theater in Saint-Étienne named in his honor.
Filmography as actor
- Boudu sauvé des eauxBoudu Saved from DrowningBoudu Saved from Drowning is a 1932 French film directed by Jean Renoir. Renoir wrote the film's screenplay, from the play by René Fauchois...
(Boudu Saved from Drowning) (1932) - The student - Zéro de conduiteZéro de ConduiteZéro de conduite is a 1933 French film directed by Jean Vigo. It was first shown on 7 April 1933, and was subsequently banned in France until 15 February 1946....
(Zero for Conduct) (1933) - Surveillant Huguet - L'AtalanteL'AtalanteL'Atalante is a 1934 French film directed by Jean Vigo and starring Jean Dasté, Dita Parlo and Michel Simon. It has been hailed by many critics as one of the greatest films of all time.-Plot summary:...
(1934) - Jean - Sous les yeux d'occident (1936) - Georges
- Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (The Crime of Monsieur Lange) (1936) - The Model maker
- La Vie est à nous (1936) - L'instituteur/Teacher
- Le Temps des cerisesLe Temps des cerisesLe Temps des cerises is a song written in France in 1866, with words by Jean-Baptiste Clément and music by Antoine Renard. The song is strongly associated with the Paris Commune...
(1937) - Le fils du directeur - La Grande illusion (Grand Illusion) (1937) - The teacher
- RemorquesRemorquesRemorques is a 1941 French drama film directed by Jean Grémillon. The screenplay was written by Jacques Prévert and André Cayatte , based on novel by Roger Vercel. The film stars Jean Gabin, Madeleine Renaud and Michèle Morgan...
(1941) - Le radio - Croisières sidérales (1942) - Pépin
- PicpusPicpusPicpus may refer to:* Cimetière de Picpus, a cemetery in Paris*The Picpus Fathers, an order of the Catholic Church, whose official name is the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary*Picpus, a journal edited by Charles Asprey and Simon Grant...
(1943) - Le clerc - Une étoile au soleil (1943)
- Adieu Léonard (1943) - Le raccommodeur de porcelaine
- La Grande meute (1945) - L'huissier
- Le Mystère Saint-Val (1945) - L'huissier
- Muriel ou Le temps d'un retour (1963) - L'homme à la chèvre/The Goat Man
- Le Ciel sur la tête (1965) - M. Bazin
- The War Is Over (1966) - Le chef du réseau clandestin/Chief
- ZZ (film)Z is a 1969 French language political thriller directed by Costa Gavras, with a screenplay by Gavras and Jorge Semprún, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Vassilis Vassilikos. The film presents a thinly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of democratic Greek...
(1969) - Illya Coste - L'Enfant sauvage (The Wild Child) (1970) - Professor Philippe Pinel
- Beau MasqueBeau MasqueBeau Masque is a Franco-Italian film directed by Bernard Paul and released in 1972.-Synopsis:In a region in the east of France, Pierrette, , a young mill worker devotes herself totally to her trade union activity even to the detriment of her private life. She has separated from her husband and...
(1972) - Cuvrot - Les Jours gris (1974) - Le vieil homme
- Le Petit Marcel (1976) - Berger
- Le Corps de mon ennemi (1976) - Le gardien du chantier/Keeper
- L'Homme qui aimait les femmes (The Man Who Loved Women) (1977) - Docteur Bicard
- La Chambre verteThe Green Room (film)The Green Room is a 1978 French film directed by François Truffaut and based on the Henry James short story "The Altar of the Dead", in which a man becomes obsessed with the many dead people in his life and builds a memorial to honor them. This film is also based on other short story by Henry...
(The Green Room) (1978) - Bernard Humbert - UtopiaUtopiaUtopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
(1978) - Jean - MolièreMolière (1978 film)Molière is a 1978 French drama film directed by Ariane Mnouchkine. It was entered into the 1978 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Philippe Caubère - Molière / The Death* Marie-Françoise Audollent * Jonathan Sutton - La Grange...
(1978) - The grandfather - La Tortue sur le dos (1978) - Bad-tempered invalid
- Rue du Pied de Grue (1979) - Tonton
- Mon oncle d'AmériqueMon oncle d'AmériqueMon oncle d'Amérique is a 1980 French film directed by Alain Resnais.- Plot :The didactic film is built around the ideas of French physician, writer and philosopher Henri Laborit, who plays himself in the film...
(My American Uncle) (1980) - M. Louis - Une semaine de vacances (1980) - Le père de Laurence
- Le Crime d'amour (1982) - L'homme de l'asile
- Les Îles (1983) - Jean
- L'amour à mortL'amour à mortL'amour à mort is a 1984 film directed by Alain Resnais.The film was shot in Uzès, Gard, in the south of France.-Cast:* Sabine Azéma - Elisabeth Sutter* Fanny Ardant - Judith Martignac* Pierre Arditi - Simon Roche...
(1984) - Dr. Rozier - Le Moine et la sorcière (1987) - Christophe
- Nuit docile (1987) - Le chauffeur de taxi
- Noce blancheNoce BlancheNoce Blanche is a French film released in 1989, directed and written by Jean-Claude Brisseau, starring Bruno Cremer and Vanessa Paradis.-Synopsis:...
(1989) - Le concierge - Projections (1990) - Le propriétaire de la salle de cinéma