Robert Castel

Acting

Robert Castel

Born 1933-05-21 · Bab El-Oued, Alger, Algérie

Robert Castel (in Arabic: روبرت كاستل), whose real name is Robert Adolphe Moyal, is an actor, musician and comedian, born on May 21, 1933 in Algiers in the Bab El-Oued district, Algeria. Robert Castel began as a musician, tar player, then guitarist, accompanying his father, composer violinist, and singer of light French-Arab songs. Young actor in the troupe of the Regional Center of Dramatic Art of Algiers, Robert Castel plays the role of Robert Le Bègue in the theatrical improvisation show on the life of the pieds-noirs, La Famille Hernandez, which is created by Geneviève Baïlac on September 17, 1957 in Paris. Having cut his teeth in music hall, Robert Castel began his film career at the age of 24 in Les Amants De Demain by Marcel Blistène, then in Un témoin dans la ville by Édouard Molinaro. In 1962, Robert Castel left the newly independent Algeria and settled in Paris with Lucette Sahuquet (who died in 1987), whom he married. The couple inaugurated their sketches as a duo that year, notably at the Olympia where they opened for Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich and Philippe Clay. In the 1970s, the comedian, lively and provocative, did a lot of television sketches with his favorite partner and Enrico Macias. For the big screen, this dark-haired comedian, with a clear forehead, who speaks with his hands, abandoned his favorite register. Having become the figure of "pied-noir humor" in France, he played alongside Edith Piaf in Les Amants de demain by Marcel Blistène, Pierre Richard in Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire by Yves Robert, and Isabelle Huppert in Dupont Lajoie by Yves Boisset. In 1982, he made a notable appearance in Algerian cinema by playing in Hassan taxi, directed by Mohamed Slim Riad, alongside Rouiched (Ahmed Ayad), Ouardia Hamitouche and Sidali Kouiret. He appeared in more than thirty films in total, until the early 2000s. Robert Castel kept a low profile for a few years before returning to the stage, this time in a musical, in 2007 thanks to the El-Gusto project. This project, which seeks to bring together Algerian, Jewish and Muslim musicians who were part of Hadj M'hamed El Anka's Algiers Chaâbi orchestra in the early 1950s, resulted in a documentary film that won international awards, the recording of an album and an international tour that took a troupe of 42 musicians to countries such as France, Morocco, Tunisia, Switzerland, Belgium, the United States and the Netherlands. In 2008, Robert Castel signed his autobiography, Je pose 75 [son âge], mais je retaîtres tout. He returned to the stage in 2013 to present his last one-man show, "Nostalgérie". He died on December 5, 2020 in Paris, at the age of 87.

Acting credits

The Common Man poster
7.0

Georges Lajoie is a Parisian café owner. As every summer, Georges, his wife Ginette and grown-up son Léon go on holiday to Loulou's campsite, where they meet up with the Schumacher family (whose father is a bailiff) and the Colin family (who sells bras in the markets). This year, their peace is slightly disturbed by the proximity of a construction site where foreign workers are employed. Xenophobic comments are made. One evening at the ball, a fight breaks out between Lajoie, Albert Schumacher and two algerian immigrant workers...

The Common Man

1975

The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe poster
7.0

A hapless orchestra player becomes an unwitting pawn of rival factions within the French secret service after he is chosen as a decoy by being identified as a super secret agent.

The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe

1972

Le bahut va craquer poster
4.2

The students of a local school unite in mutiny against their headmaster and two teachers.

Le bahut va craquer

1981

The Jews poster
4.3

Four separate stories deal with stereotypical ideas about Jews: their alleged influence on politics, the stereotype of Jewish business-mindedness, the Mossad, the Jewish world conspiracy and the memory of the Holocaust.

The Jews

2016

Two Men in Town poster
7.1

A former bank robber is released after 10 years in prison. He gets help from a social-worker, but gets harassed by an old cop from his past.

Two Men in Town

1973

What Did I Ever Do to the Good Lord to Deserve a Wife Who Drinks in Cafes with Men? poster
8.0

Gaby is happy. After eighteen years of work, he is a flourishing mechanist. But one day, the mechanic of his life is out of order. He discovers that his assistant is in love with his wife. This one runs away with her daughter in law. So, Gaby's friends imagine a gambit to find them, at the moment where father and son enjoy pleasures of single life.

What Did I Ever Do to the Good Lord to Deserve a Wife Who Drinks in Cafes with Men?

1980

Les gros malins poster
5.0

Paul Blanc runs a butcher's shop with his Neapolitan wife, the vivacious Giulia. One night, thanks to sleeping pills received from his brother in Argentina, he dreams of horse racing and sees in his dream the order of arrival of the horses. Giulia praises her husband's gift at the local café. But the turfmen dissuade her from betting on the nags chosen by Paul, who they consider to be real losers! But her vision proves to be right. When her secret is discovered, everyone wants to buy this miracle medicine. But the product is no longer manufactured, as it is considered dangerous and has been banned by the authorities.

Les gros malins

1969

Take It from the Top poster
5.5

Tired of being a housewife, Annie wants to work. Between her professional life and her responsibilities as a parent, she can no longer cope. She decides to leave and starts writing a memoir of her life...

Take It from the Top

1978

The Conspiracy poster
5.7

Paris 1960. DeGaulle determines to end a bitter war in Algeria by granting its independence. Millions oppose him, including a group of DeGaulle's disenchanted Arm Officers. In a desperate attempt to save the colony for France, they plan a daring jailbreak of their imprisoned leader. A network of snitches inform a tenacious detective leading to an explosive three-way cat-and-mouse game among the rebels, the Gaullist politicos and the police.

The Conspiracy

1973

There Once Was a Cop poster
6.1

Campana, a commissar at the drugs bureau of Paris police gets an undercover job in Nice to catch an Italian-French mafia boss. As he slips into the identity of a gangster's brother, who was already killed, he has to play the role of a loving husband with child - something that is not so easy for a confirmed single like Campana. Unfortunately American killers chase behind the Nice mafia clan too, in order to get control of French drug trades to USA.

There Once Was a Cop

1972

El Gusto poster
7.4

El Gusto is the story of an orchestra of Jewish and Muslim musicians torn apart by war 50 years ago, and recently reunited for an exceptional concert. These musicians share a passion they never lost: the soul of Algiers, Chaabi music.

El Gusto

2012

La Décharge poster
5.8

A fake documentary on the life forms of the Paris Suburbs, viewed through the eyes of homeless, unemployed people the sharks of politics and building societies push to hopeless life.

La Décharge

1976

Teenagers poster
5.8

The story of Lucas and how he helps others as an angel. This is an innovative, educational drama that resembles a documentary.

Teenagers

2011

Let's Make a Dirty Movie poster
3.9

A bumbling film crew attempts to make a porno movie.

Let's Make a Dirty Movie

1976

Sacrés gendarmes poster
5.5

In 1968, in a small village in the south of France, while the rest of the country was gripped by insurrectionary fervor and the search for a few liters of gasoline, life flowed peacefully. However, the tranquility and good humor of everyone were called into question by the announcement of the brigade's transfer to a less remote location.

Sacrés gendarmes

1980

The Unvanquished poster
6.6

In this drama that alludes to the Algerian War with France of the 1960s, Thomas is a deserter from the French Foreign Legion who is on the run from authorities. He helps damsel in distress Dominique, who has been taken hostage by a group of terrorists. Thomas is wounded but manages to escape after killing the guard who inflicted the injury. Dominique gives Thomas money to escape to France after he secures her freedom, but he is caught between the Foreign Legion and the terrorists seeking revenge.

The Unvanquished

1964

Too Shy to Try poster
6.4

Pierre is a hotel cashier in Vichy, so shy that he answers an ad from the Psychology Institute and can't say no to the salesman, Aldo; he spends 6,000 francs on tapes, books, and a punching bag. Soon after, he's smitten by Agnes, a hotel guest with a model's looks and photographers wherever she goes. When she leaves for Nice, he follows, meeting Aldo on the way. Aldo becomes his boldness coach. Pierre gets a job washing dishes where Agnes is staying, but after a week or so, she's off to Deauville, with Aldo and Pierre in pursuit. Using funds they get by selling Aldo's car, this time Pierre poses as a polo-playing jet setter. Will this win the heart of Agnes?

Too Shy to Try

1978

Les Grands Moyens poster
5.6

The sweet elderly aunt and her two nieces survive the vendetta killing of their whole family because they are out picking flowers at the time. Undaunted, the aunt, a tough old Corsican, tracks down and kills all but one of the men who wiped out her kinfolk.

Les Grands Moyens

1976

By the Blood of Others poster
5.2

In a little French town everything goes on as usual and people seem friendly and good-natured, until the day two women arrive from Paris. A man gets off the same bus, and that very night he seizes the two women and asks for the most beautiful woman in town as their ransom. After the initial shock, the mayor, his brother, the prefect, the police, and the gendarmerie gather around the house where the two woman are imprisoned. It will be a test for everyone and each of them will show his/her real stuff: hypocrisy, meanness, or humanity concealed under their provincial respectability.

By the Blood of Others

1974

Le Permis de conduire poster
6.4

Michel Martenot (Louis Velle) works in a bank consumption, is recommended and intended for children. His professional skills were appreciated by his boss and promoted Michel. He becomes deputy director of an agency in central Paris. Unfortunately, not having a driving license means that you will have to track a lot of time commuting to public transport. To start the business on his family and professional life.

Le Permis de conduire

1974

Bedmania poster
4.1

A large bed recounts stories from its brief existence. Clumsy burglars, adulterated husbands and wives, homosexuals, lesbians, a lady, and her gigolo, a doctor who tries an erotic measurement machine on his assistant.

Bedmania

1974

One Fine Day poster
5.0

François Berthier’s life is a series of unfortunate events. One day, however, a miracle occurs for François and his expected misfortune is changed to never-ending luck.

One Fine Day

2006

Comiques de toujours (Vol. 1 à 4) poster
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

Comiques de toujours (Vol. 1 à 4)

2009

Three Men on a Horse poster
6.0

A man has found a way to win any bet he places on a horse. However, he himself must never be the person to place the bet.

Three Men on a Horse

1969

Behind the camera