Maurice Ronet

Maurice Ronet (born Maurice Julien Marie Robinet) was a French film actor, director, and writer whose career spanned from the late 1940s until his untimely death in 1983. He entered the world on 13 April 1927 in Nice, France, the only child of stage actors Émile Robinet and Gilberte Dubreuil, and made his theatrical debut at age fourteen in a production of Sacha Guitry’s Deux couverts. After studying at the Centre du Spectacle de la Rue‑Blanche and the Paris Conservatoire, where he was mentored by Jean‑Louis Barrault, Ronet appeared in Jacques Becker’s Rendez‑vous de juillet (1949), a role written especially for him. Although initially reluctant to pursue acting, a series of small parts in the early 1950s gradually revealed a talent for embodying conflicted, often self‑destructive characters. Ronet’s breakthrough arrived with Louis Malle’s Elevator to the Gallows (1958), in which he played the charismatic Julien Tavernier opposite Jeanne Moreau, establishing him as a leading figure of the French New Wave. He further cemented his reputation with iconic performances such as Philippe Greenleaf in René Clément’s Purple Noon (1960) and the tormented writer Alain Leroy in Malle’s The Fire Within (1963), a role that earned him the Crystal Star and Best Actor honors at the São Paulo Film Festival. Throughout the 1960s he collaborated repeatedly with Claude Chabrol, appearing in The Champagne Murders (1966), Line of Demarcation (1966) and The Unfaithful Wife (1969), and he shared the screen with Alain Delon and Romy Schneider in Jacques Deray’s sensual thriller La Piscine (1969). Beyond acting, Ronet explored directing with The Thief of Tibidabo (1964) and produced several documentary projects, including Vers l’île des dragons (1973). He authored two books, L’île des dragons (1973) and Le métier de comédien (1977), reflecting on his artistic philosophy. His personal life was marked by a brief marriage to actress Maria Pacôme and a long‑lasting partnership with Josephine Chaplin, with whom he fathered a son, Julien, in 1980. Maurice Ronet died of cancer on 14 March 1983 in Paris, leaving behind a legacy of intense, introspective performances that continue to influence European cinema.