Roger Blin

Acting

Roger Blin

Born 1907-03-22 · Neuilly-sur-Seine, Seine [now Hauts-de-Seine], France

Roger Blin (Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, 22 March 1907 – Évecquemont, France, 21 January 1984) was a French actor and director. He staged world premieres of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot in 1953 and Endgame in 1957. Blin was the son of a doctor; however, despite his father's wishes, Blin forged a career in the theatre. As a teenager he was 'fascinated' by the Surrealists and their conception of revolutionary art. He was initially part of the left-wing theatre collectives The Company of Five and The October Group. In 1935 Blin served as Antonin Artaud's assistant director for his production of Les Cenci [The Cenci] at the Folies-Wagrams theatre in 1935. Following his work with Artaud, Blin focused on 'political street-theatre.' During the war, Blin was a liaison between the Resistance and the French Army. His extensive career as both director and actor in both film and theatre has been largely defined by his work and relationship with Artaud, Samuel Beckett and Jean Genet. In addition to being a close friend and confidant of Artaud during the latter's nine years of internment, he directed the first performances of Beckett's Waiting For Godot, Happy Days and Endgame as well as directing the initial performance of Genet's The Blacks and the controversial The Screens. Genet's key correspondences to Blin have been published by Editions Gallimard. The 1986 Faber and Faber publication, "Samuel Beckett: The Complete Dramatic Works" carries only three dedications from Beckett: "Endgame" is dedicated to Blin, while "Come and Go" is for John Calder, and "Catastrophe" is for Václav Havel. Source: Article "Roger Blin" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Acting credits

The Adolescent poster
4.8

In the summer of 1939, 13-year-old Marie goes with her parents to visit her grandparents in a small town near Avignon. Marie discovers her femininity and falls for a young Jewish doctor, but he prefers Eva, Marie's mother.

The Adolescent

1979

Paris Blues poster
6.5

During the 1960s, two American jazz musicians living in Paris meet and fall in love with two American tourist girls and must decide between music and love.

Paris Blues

1961

The Hunchback of Notre Dame poster
6.7

In 1482 Paris, Frollo, Chief Justice of benevolent King Louis XI, becomes infatuated by the beauty of Esmeralda, a young Romani girl. The hunchback Quasimodo, Frollo's protégé and bell-ringer of Notre Dame, lives in peace among the bells in the heights of the immense cathedral until he's involved by the twisted magistrate in his malicious plans to free himself from Esmeralda's alleged spell, which he believes to be the Devil's work.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

1956

Orpheus poster
7.6

A famous poet in postwar Paris, scorned by the Left Bank youth, is in love with both his wife Eurydice and a mysterious princess. Seeking inspiration, the poet becomes obsessed and follows the princess from the world of the living to the land of the dead.

Orpheus

1950

Wicked City poster
5.3

A Canadian sailor becomes a fugitive for love after a night with a woman in Marseille.

Wicked City

1949

Douce poster
7.2

In Paris in 1887, Irène works as a governess to Douce, the grand-daughter of the dowager Countess de Bonafé. Douce believes she is in love with Fabien, the handsome manager of the estate. However she cannot hope to marry him because of their class difference. Douce's widowed father, the Count de Bonafé, has a wooden leg, and is infatuated with Irène. Douce discovers that Fabien is planning to flee to Quebec with Irène, and also finds out that the Count has asked Irène to marry him. So Douce tells Fabien this and convinces him to run away with her, causing consternation in the family.

Douce

1943

The Devil's Envoys poster
6.8

At the end of the 15th century, a man and a woman, posing as traveling minstrels, are sent by the Devil to a castle to seduce its inhabitants.

The Devil's Envoys

1942

Adrienne Lecouvreur poster
5.7

Adrienne Lecouvreur is an acclaimed actress who falls in love with Polish prince Maurice de Saxe, only to be poisoned by a jealous rival while Maurice is away at war. The film was a co-production between the two countries, and was made at UFA's Berlin Studios. It was based on the 1849 play Adrienne Lecouvreur by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé about the life of the eighteenth century actress Adrienne Lecouvreur.

Adrienne Lecouvreur

1938

A Taste for Women poster
4.1

A writer discovers a link between a vegetarian restaurant and a series of mysterious deaths.

A Taste for Women

1964

That Most Important Thing: Love poster
7.0

Servais Mont, a freelance photographer who works taking compromising photos, gets fascinated by Nadine Chevalier, a tormented low-budget movie actress married to an eccentric film photo collector.

That Most Important Thing: Love

1975

The King and the Mockingbird poster
7.8

A young shepherdess and a chimneysweep plan to get married and escape the clutches of a tyrannical king in love with her, assisted by the guile of a cheeky mockingbird, the king's archenemy.

The King and the Mockingbird

1980

Passionnelle poster
6.7

Thérèse kills her lover during the very night of her wedding to the count of Vétheul. To gain a night with her, a modest local worker agrees to bury the body.

Passionnelle

1947

The Ideal Couple poster
6.5

Diavalo is the popular hero of French serials circa 1912. Diana is an actress who falls in love with Diavalo. Diavalo is forced to wear a series of disguises to elude the police so he can attend a Gala for the President.

The Ideal Couple

1946

Le Corbeau poster
7.5

Remy Germain is a doctor in a French town who becomes the focus of a vicious smear campaign, as letters accusing him of having an affair and performing unlawful abortions are mailed to village leaders. The mysterious writer, who signs each letter as "Le Corbeau" (The Raven) soon targets the whole town, exposing everyone's dark secrets.

Le Corbeau

1943

The World Will Shake poster
7.0

In this sci-fi film, a scientist invents a prescient machine that can tell people when they will die. Oddly enough, the people do not want to know and therefore begin to riot…

The World Will Shake

1939

Quatrevingt-treize poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Quatrevingt-treize

1962

Le Colisée poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Le Colisée

1933

Mesure pour Mesure poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Mesure pour Mesure

1971

Volpone poster
6.8

Volpone, an elderly Venetian, connives with his money-crazed servant to convince his greedy friends that he is dying, knowing that each will try to curry favor with him in order to be named his heir. He is inundated with valuable gifts, and soon finds himself entangled deeper and deeper in a web of lies.

Volpone

1941

The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird poster
7.2

A chimney sweep and his beloved shepherdess are aided by Wonderbird in their escape from a ruthless dictator

The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird

1953

Captain Fracasse poster
6.7

Out of love for an actress, Isabelle, the Baron de Sigognac joins a traveling troop en route to Paris. When an actor dies, he takes over his role: that of Captain Fracasse.

Captain Fracasse

1943

No artwork available
NR

A documentary short about Egypt.

Egypt, oh Egypt: Images of Heaven

1963

Alibi poster
6.6

Paris, 1937. Winckler kills his enemy Gordon, a Chicago mobster, from the stage of a Parisian music hall, where he performs telepathy. He pays another artist, Helene, so that she tells the police they've spent the night together, which doesn't fool Callas, the police officer who investigates the murder. He hires one of his fellow officers in order to seduce Helene.

Alibi

1937

Piédalu fait des miracles poster
4.5

The inhabitants of Marboue-Chambourcy want a swimming pool, and the difficulties in realizing this expensive dream divide the village into two clans: on one side the women, on the other the men. Piedalu, whom this conflict desolates, discovers by chance, as part of a found bicycle, a fortune in gold coins.

Piédalu fait des miracles

1952

Behind the camera