Death of actor Henri Garcin, anti-hero of Truffaut and figure of Maguy

He played all jobs and counter-jobs with disconcerting ease: a hero of the resistance, a big-hearted thug, a perverse henchman, a deceived bourgeois, an average Frenchman and a slew of ministers and judges for Yves Boisset . Actor Henri Garcin died Monday June 13 at the age of 94, according to his daughter Adèle.

Three years ago, he published his memoirs, under the Proustian title, For a long time I went to bed late (Morrigane Editions). This well-written book is full of colorful anecdotes and tasty memories on François Truffaut, Georges Moustaki, Romain Gary, José-Luis de Villalonga, Marguerite Duras, the theater and the profession of director. This man, with a serious appearance but with a facetious spirit, does not hesitate to deliver an amused philosophy of life… borrowed from Paul Léautaud: “The death? Provided that I arrive until there.

Read alsoGalabru and Darry Cowl on the beaches of D-Day: the unpublished tribute film by Henri Garcin

Henri Garcin belongs to this line of actors who have somewhat sacrificed their career in the cinema for their passion for the theatre. However, it is his talent on stage that will allow him one day to impress the most film-lover of directors, François Truffaut. This unique encounter is vividly recounted in his book. In the mid-1960s, the New Wave filmmaker decided to see Henri Garcin in the play, accompanied by Catherine Deneuve. Something like Glenariff, “a comedy that I had committed with Daniel Lord”, in the author’s own words.

The next day, the director of four hundred blows, blown away by his game, sent him these few words“My dear friend, I am full of admiration for you; for years I have wondered why acting in the theater is so exaggerated compared to acting in the cinema and, having failed to find the answer, I have refused theater productions two or three times. Last night, I had proof that a play can be conducted, led, played, rhythmed like a film and even like a very good film…» Could one dream of a finer eulogy? François Truffaut will never forget his first impression. Twenty years later, he offered one of his finest roles to Henri Garcin in The Woman Next Door.

Irascible or phlegmatic, an astonishing chameleon, Henri Garcin transformed himself as if by magic into Jo le Fréjus for Lautner and Audiard (Sorrel flower), into a resistance fighter in love with Catherine Deneuve for Rappeneau (The good life) and in a worthy and deceived husband of Fanny Ardant (The woman next door). Here, in video, a selection of films that have marked the actor.

• VIDEO – Henri Garcin had made Jesse, an offbeat film, in homage to the landing of June 6, 1944. Find the exclusive unpublished images of the shooting which brought together two popular actors: Darry Cowl and Galabru.