French cinema legend Jean-Louis Trintignant has died at home early Friday in the Gard region of southern France at the age of 91. In 160 roles over a glittering 60-year career, the actor’s subtle, powerful performances and distinctive voice left an indelible mark on French and European cinema, reports FRANCE 24.
Like his co-stars Yves Montand, Alain Delon and Gérard Dépardieu, Trintignant forged an impressive career punctuated by now-classic roles and rose to fame beyond his native France: From his breakthrough performance in "And God created Woman” (1956) with Brigitte Bardot, to Claude Lelouch’s Palme d’Or winner “A Man and a Woman” (1966) opposite Anouk Aimée – who won a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and earned an Oscar nod for her role – to “Amour” (2012), the global coup de coeur for which Trintignant won France’s César for Best Actor at the age of 82.
Austrian director Michael Haneke’s end-of-life drama recalled Trintignant and co-star Emmanuelle Riva to longtime foreign admirers and won the pair new fans with five Oscar nods and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film.
In the 1960s and 1970s, not a year went by without a great part for Trintignant. Working under Europe’s greatest directors, he worked deep into his eighties making two acclaimed Haneke features and another film which reunited him with Lelouch.