Maurice Ronet

Acting

Maurice Ronet

Born 1927-04-13 · Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France

Maurice Ronet (13 April 1927 – 14 March 1983) was a French film actor, director, and writer. Maurice Ronet was born Maurice Julien Marie Robinet in Nice, Alpes Maritimes. He was the only child of professional stage actors Émile Robinet and Gilberte Dubreuil. He made his stage debut at the age of 14 alongside his parents in Sacha Guitry's Deux couverts in Lausanne. After attending the Parisian acting school Centre du Spectacle de la Rue-Blanche, he entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1944, where Jean-Louis Barrault was one of his mentors. When he made his film debut at 22 in Jacques Becker's Rendez-vous de juillet (1949) in a role that was written specifically for him by Becker, he had little interest in pursuing an acting career. After completing the film, he married Maria Pacôme (a French stage actress and playwright), and they departed to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie in Provence, where he tried his hand at ceramics. After completing his military service, he returned to Paris in the early 1950s where he took courses in philosophy and physics, and pursued his passion for literature, music (piano and organ), film and painting. His artwork, part of the peinture non figurative movement, was exhibited with friends Jean Dubuffet and Georges Mathieu. He also acted occasionally in small roles in the films of French directors like Yves Ciampi and René Wheeler, with ambitions of becoming a filmmaker himself. Gradually, however, he came to discover a freedom in acting and a creative satisfaction that provided a synthesis of all his interests. Maurice Ronet became one of European cinema's more prolific actors. Between 1955 and 1975 he appeared in over 60 films. He often portrayed characters who were in conflict with themselves or society. He first garnered acclaim at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival for a supporting role in Jean Dreville's Endless Horizons (Horizons sans fin) and over the next few years as the romantic lead in André Michel's La sorcière (The Blonde Witch/The Sorceress, 1956) and in Jules Dassin's He Who Must Die (Celui qui doit mourir, 1957). It was at the presentation of "La Sorcière" at Cannes where he met a creative and an intellectual counterpart in Louis Malle. Two years later, he made his international box-office breakthrough as Julien Tavernier in Malle's first feature film Elevator to the Gallows (Ascenseur pour l'échafaud 1958), which features Jeanne Moreau. He originated the role of Philippe Greenleaf in Purple Noon (Plein soleil, 1960), René Clément's adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley. ... Source: Article "Maurice Ronet" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Acting credits

Beau Pere poster
6.4

Rémi is a man trapped in a deteriorating marriage. When his wife is unexpectedly killed in a car accident, Rémi is left with his stepdaughter, Marion, who chooses to stay with him rather than live with her birth father. After the initial shock passes, Rémi is caught off-guard when Marion begins expressing her attraction to him. Initially repulsed, Marion's mature beauty wears him down as he finally caves to her seductions.

Beau Pere

1981

The Swimming Pool poster
7.0

Set in a magnificent villa near a sun-drenched St. Tropez, lovers Jean-Paul and Marianne are spending a happy, lazy summer holiday. Their only concern is to gratify their mutual passion - until the day when Marianne invites her former lover and his beautiful teenage daughter to spend a few days with them. From the first moment, a certain uneasiness and tension begin to develop between the four, which soon escalates in a dangerous love-game.

The Swimming Pool

1969

Purple Noon poster
7.6

Tom Ripley is a talented mimic, moocher, forger and all-around criminal improviser; but there's more to Tom Ripley than even he can guess.

Purple Noon

1960

The Unfaithful Wife poster
6.9

A man begins to believe his wife is cheating on him.

The Unfaithful Wife

1969

Elevator to the Gallows poster
7.6

A self-assured businessman murders his employer, husband of his mistress, which unintentionally provokes an ill-fated chain of events.

Elevator to the Gallows

1958

The Victors poster
6.3

Intercutting dramatic vignettes with newsreel footage, the story follows the characters from an infantry squad as they make their way from Sicily to Germany during the end of World War II.

The Victors

1963

The Marseille Contract poster
6.0

An important drug lord settled in Marseille is suspected of having ordered the killing of an American agent, but it is impossible to impute him due to his political influences, so the dead agent's boss decides to hire the services of a hitman to kill him.

The Marseille Contract

1974

The Fire Within poster
7.6

Depressed Alain Leroy leaves the clinic where he was detoxified. He meets friends, acquaintances and women, trying to find a reason to continue living.

The Fire Within

1963

Bloodline poster
4.9

A pampered heiress inherits her father's pharmaceutical empire when he dies in a suspicious accident, and soon finds herself surrounded by ruthless board members and grasping family members who will seemingly stop at nothing to profit.

Bloodline

1979

Lost Command poster
6.2

After being freed from a Vietnamese war prison, French Lt. Col. Pierre Raspeguy is sent to help quell resistance forces in Algeria. With the help of the Capt. Esclavier, who has grown weary of war, and Capt. Boisfeuras, who lives for it, Raspeguy attempts to convert a rugged band of soldiers into a formidable fighting unit, with the promise of marrying a beautiful countess if he's made a general.

Lost Command

1966

Seduction poster
5.7

After returning to Catania after a long period of time, Giuseppe reunites with his old lover, Caterina. Her 15 year-old daughter, Graziella begins to seduce her mother's lover and he soon breaks down and begins an affair with her. As time passes Caterina begins having sneaking suspicions about Giuseppe's & Graziella's relationship.

Seduction

1973

Sphinx poster
5.7

Egyptologist Erica Baron finds more than she bargained for during her long-planned trip to The Land of the Pharoahs - murder, theft, betrayal, love, and a mummy's curse!

Sphinx

1981

Madame Claude poster
4.9

Based on a true story. Madame Claude, a well connected Parisienne with dark past, runs a network of high-class call girls. She sends her girls to any place in the world to satisfy sexual desires of wealthy and powerful men. Claude's manipulations also involve big business and politics. Meanwhile, photographer David Evans is trying to clear his own criminal record by providing the authorities with pictures of Claude's girls with important clients in compromising positions. But powerful men can do anything to keep their secrets...

Madame Claude

1977

Lucrèce Borgia poster
4.4

In the early 16th century, Italy is ruled by the powerful Borgia family, led by César Borgia and his sister Lucrèce. In a ruthless power play, César plots to have his sister’s husband murdered. But without her brother’s knowledge, Lucrèce has taken a strong lover who will challenge the Borgias.

Lucrèce Borgia

1953

Mi último tango poster
6.2

A young woman working as a maid for a big time stage performer is mistaken for the star in Buenos Aires and becomes a great success in the land of the tango.

Mi último tango

1960

Death of a Corrupt Man poster
6.5

In the middle of the night, deputy Philippe Dubaye wakes up his old friend Xavier Maréchal with disturbing news: he has just killed Serrano, a racketeer with extant political connections. Serrano kept proofs of Dubaye's involvement in corrupt dealings and was poised to use them against the deputy. Xavier readily agrees to cover up for his old pal Philippe, but he soon runs into difficulties. Nobody believes Dubaye's alibi. And everybody -- influential personalities, powerful businessmen, dubious go-betweens and the police -- wants to get hold of the documents that served to blackmail Dubaye; by all possible means...

Death of a Corrupt Man

1977

The Deadly Trap poster
5.5

Jill's husband has been distant since they moved to Paris. He's pressured at work to engage in illegal activities but he refuses. Soon after, when their children disappear while in Jill's care, her mental health comes into question.

The Deadly Trap

1971

Carve Her Name with Pride poster
6.0

London, England, during World War II. After living a tragic life experience, young Violette Szabo joins the Special Operations Executive and crosses the German enemy lines as a secret agent to aid a French Resistance group.

Carve Her Name with Pride

1958

The Vixen poster
5.4

Clara becomes a secretary who must cater to all the desires of the womanizing writer Jérôme, while he tries to write his memoirs.

The Vixen

1969

Wherever You Are poster
6.3

Lisa, a young wealthy has just been dumped by one of her lovers. One night at a bar in Torremolinos met Paul Vallier and asks Rudolph will you call tonight? Vallier is a writer in crisis intellectual and sentimental. Lisa falls for him but he is engaged to another man. An overdose of pills makes it look clear and at the last moment when he would fly out with her fiance is advised by an old friend of Vallier to return to him. Well it does and it is in the same bar and join hands.

Wherever You Are

1964

He Who Must Die poster
6.1

Greece, in the 1920s, is occupied by the Turks. The country is in turmoil with entire villages uprooted. The site of the movie is a Greek village that conducts a passion play each year. The leading citizens of the town, under the auspices of the Patriarch, choose those that will play the parts in the Passion. A stuttering shepherd is chosen to play Jesus. The town butcher (who wanted to be Jesus) is chosen as Judas. The town prostitute is chosen as Mary Magdalene. The rest of the disciples are also chosen. As the movie unfolds, the Passion Play becomes a reality. A group of villagers, uprooted by the war and impoverished, arrive at the village led by their priest. The wealthier citizens of the town want nothing with these people and manipulate a massacre. In the context of the 1920s, each of the characters plays out their biblical role in actuality.

He Who Must Die

1957

The Healer poster
6.0

Pierre Laurent, a former doctor, has established himself as a renowned healer in Brittany. A young girl, Isabelle, who follows his results with admiration, declares her love for him and becomes engaged. The reactions of his former colleagues bring Pierre before the courts. A misunderstanding with Isabelle thwarts the wedding plans. Later, the young girl, suffering from a brain tumor, allows herself to be cured by the healer. Pierre does not cure her, but leads her to her death without suffering.

The Healer

1953

Circle of Love poster
5.7

In a chain reaction of romantic adventures, various people play musical beds in a remake of Max Ophul's "La Ronde."

Circle of Love

1964

The Champagne Murders poster
5.5

A champagne tycoon's partner suspects his partner's gigolo husband of murders he's been framed for.

The Champagne Murders

1967

Behind the camera