Bruno Cremer
Acting
Born October 6, 1929, Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, France
Bruno Jean Marie Cremer (6 October 1929 – 7 August 2010) was a French actor best known for portraying Jules Maigret on French television, from 1991 to 2005. Bruno Cremer was born in Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. His mother, Jeanne Rullaert, a musician, was of Belgian Flemish origin and his father, Georges, was a businessman from Lille who, though born French, had taken out Belgian nationality after the French armed forces refused to accept him for service in the First World War. Bruno himself opted for French nationality when he reached the age of 18. His childhood was largely spent in Paris. Bruno attended the Cours Hattemer, a private school. Having completed his secondary studies, he followed an interest in acting which had interested him since the age of 12 and trained in acting from 1952 at France's highly selective Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique (English: French National Academy of Dramatic Arts). His career began with ten years spent acting in live theatre, playing roles drawn from works of Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and Jean Anouilh. Aged already 30, he created the role of Thomas Becket in the 1959 world premiere of Anouilh's Becket, and held Anouilh in veneration all his life. Later Cremer played Max in a French production of Bent by Martin Sherman in 1981. He regarded his basic profession as that of a stage actor, though he gravitated firmly to films. It was in 1957 that Cremer had his first credited part in a film, Quand la femme s'en mêle (When a woman meddles), which starred Alain Delon. However, it was in 1965 that Cremer's career really began to prosper, with the film La 317e section, (The 317th Platoon), directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer and set in Indochina during the French colonial wars. From then onwards, Cremer became a popular actor and appeared in over 110 productions for cinema and television. While Cremer tried to avoid labels and typecasting, he tended to be offered tough-guy roles, often military men. Examples from various points in his career include Section spéciale (1975), La légion saute sur Kolwezi (1980) and Là-haut, un roi au-dessus des nuages (2004). Special Section (French original title: Section spéciale), released in 1975, is about a kangaroo court set up in collaborationist Vichy France to ensure judicial convictions of innocent people so as to mollify the Nazis. A French language film directed by the Greek-French film director Costa-Gavras, it features Cremer as Lucien Sampaix, a Communist journalist. The 1980 film La légion saute sur Kolwezi (English Operation Leopard), directed by Raoul Coutard, is a documentary-style portrayal of a real-life operation headed by the French Foreign Legion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1978 to rescue foreign hostages. Cremer plays a military commander. Pierre Schoendoerffer’s 2004 film Là-haut, un roi au-dessus des nuages (Above the Clouds), based on his own novel, Là-haut. Cremer played the Colonel. ... Source: Article "Bruno Cremer" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA .
Filmography
- 2003Above the Clouds — Le colonel
- 2001My Father Saved My Life — Joe
- 2001Under the Sand — Jean Drillon
- 1997Maigret et le Liberty Bar — Commissaire Jules Maigret
- 1993Night Taxi — Silver, le taxi
- 1992A Vampire in Paradise — Antoine Belfond
- Maigret — Jules Maigret, Commissaire Jules Maigret, Bruno Cremer Commissaire Jules Maigret
- 1991Money — Marc Lavater
- 1990Act of Sorrow — Armando
- 1990Coma dépassé — Yves Toledano
- 1990Tumultes — The Father
- 1989Brothers in Arms — Joulin
- 1989L'Été de la Révolution — Louis XVI
- L'Été de la Révolution — Louis XVI
- 1989White Wedding — François Hainaut
- 1988Adieu, je t'aime — Michel Dupré
- 1988Sound and Fury — Marcel
- The Secret Files of Inspector Lavardin — Jacques Pincemaille
- 1987Falsch — Joe
- L'île — Lieutenant Mason
- Opération Ypsilon — Germain Langelier
- 1986Ménage — The Art Lover
- 1985Derborence — Séraphin
- 1985L'Énigme blanche — Paul
- Le Regard dans le miroir — Eric Chevallier
- 1985Le Transfuge — Bernard Corain
- 1985The Book of Mary — Father
- 1984Fanny Straw-Top — Andrés Gallego
- 1984Le Matelot 512 — Commander Roger
- The Octopus — Antonio Espinosa
- 1983A Brutal Game — Tessier
- 1983Effraction — Pierre
- 1983The Prize of Peril — Antoine Chirex
- 1982Josepha — Régis Duchemin
- 1982Spy, Stand Up — Alain Richard
- 1981Aimée — Carl Freyer
- 1981La Puce et le privé — Valentin 'Val' Brosse
- 1981Une robe noire pour un tueur — Alain Rivière
- 1980Anthracite — The prefect of studies
- La Traque — Le commissaire Chenu
- 1980Même les mômes ont du vague à l'âme — Morton
- 1980Operation Leopard — Pierre Delbart
- 1980Une page d'amour — Le docteur Henri Deberle
- 1979We Forget Everything! — Claude Raisman
- 1978A Simple Story — Georges
- 1978Last In, First Out — Lucas Richter
- 1977Drummer-Crab — Adjutant Willsdorf (uncredited)
- 1977Sorcerer — Victor Manzon / 'Serrano'
- 1976Hunter Will Get You — Gilbert, aka l'Epervier
- 1976The Good and the Bad — Bruno
- 1975Flesh of the Orchid — Louis Delage
- 1975Special Section — Lucien Sampaix
- 1974The Protector — Commissaire Baudrier
- 1974The Suspects — Police Commissioner Bonetti
- 1973Without Warning — L'ex-sergent Donetti
- 1972The Assassination — Michel Vigneau
- 1971Biribi — Le capitaine
- 1971The Smugglers — Saska
- 1970Pour un sourire — Michaël
- 1970Safety Catch — Duca Lamberti / Lucas Lamberti
- 1970The Time to Die — Max Topfer
- 1969Bye Bye Barbara — Hugo Michelli
- 1969Les Gauloises bleues — Le père
- 1968Bonnot's Gang — Jules Bonnot
- 1968The Killer Likes Candy — Oscar Snell
- 1967A Question of Rape — Walter
- 1967If I Were a Spy — Matras
- 1967Shock Troops — Cazal
- 1967The Stranger — Priest
- 1966Is Paris Burning? — Colonel Rol Tanguy
- 1966Objective: 500 Million — Captain Jean Reichau
- 1965Marco the Magnificent — Guillaume de Tripoli, a Knight Templar
- 1965The 317th Platoon — L'adjudant Willsdorf
- 1962Le Tout pour le tout — Doctor
- 1961To Die of Love — Inspector Terens
- 1957When a Woman Meddles — Bernard
- 1953Les Dents longues — L'homme qui sort de la boîte (uncredited)
Appearances as themselves (6)
- Vivement dimanche — Self
- Matin Bonheur — Self
- Ciné regards — Self
- Les Rendez-vous du dimanche — Self
- Spécial cinéma — Self
- 1972The Algerian War — Self - Narrator (voice)