Paris (AFP)

A comedian of avant-garde as well as popular productions, Michael Lonsdale died Monday at 89 years old, after 60 years of career and a consecration, for this fervent Christian, for his role of monk in "Of the men and the gods".

The actor with the hair and the white beard, interpreter of more than 200 roles, died Monday afternoon at his home in Paris, specified his agent Olivier Loiseau to AFP.

Committed Catholic, baptized at 22, he obtained in 2011, on the eve of his 80th birthday, the César for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his interpretation of Brother Luc, a free and heroic Cistercian monk, murdered in Tibéhirine in "Des men and gods "by Xavier Beauvois.

On several occasions, he donned the cassock ("Le Procès" by Orson Welles, 1962), the robe de bure ("Le Nom de la rose" by Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1986), sported the purple of the cardinals (" Galileo "by Joseph Losey, 1974), going so far as to interpret the archangel Gabriel in" My life is a hell "by Josiane Balasko (1991).

Eclectic, he wore many other clothes.

Alternately policeman, assassin, vice-consul, hatter, judge or duke, he also played the "bad guy" in a James Bond ("Moonraker", 1979) and lent himself, buttocks up, to a sadomasochistic session in "The Phantom of Liberty" by Luis Bunuel.

A bent old man with a generous goat, this childless bachelor still appeared in 2015 in a film by Bouli Lanners, "Les Premiers Les Nouveaux", then last year in a short film for the Paris Opera, "Degas and Me ", by Arnaud des Pallières.

- Laughs with Marguerite Duras -

To see this bearded giant with an astounding vocal softness, it is hard to imagine his laborious beginnings.

Because if he wants to believe in his star, others see him only as a shy young man.

Born in Paris on May 24, 1931, of a liaison between an English officer and a French woman, Michael Lonsdale, perfectly bilingual, was raised in London, then in Morocco where, in 1942, American soldiers introduced him to the films of John Ford. , Cukor or Hawks.

Returning to Paris in 1947, this reluctant student, without even the certificate of studies, knowing nothing about Molière or Racine, frequented his uncle Marcel Arland, director of the NRF (literary review edited by Gallimard).

He quickly makes up for his shortcomings.

He enrolled in the classes of renowned teacher Tania Balachova who helped him overcome her great shyness.

He notably met Delphine Seyrig, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stéphane Audran.

Here he is on the boards in 1955 in "For better and for worse" by Clifford Odets.

He is passionate about radical experiments: the director Jean-Marie Serreau chooses him for "The Future is in the Eggs" and "Amédée or How to Get Rid of it" by Eugène Ionesco.

Comes Samuel Beckett ("Comedy", "Come and Go"), who makes him discover silences, these counterpoints which reinforce the weight of words.

He becomes the favorite actor of Marguerite Duras ("The English Lover"), his accomplice with whom he shares giggles.

- Truffaut and De Funès -

In the cinema, Michael Lonsdale multiplies the experiments: he turns with Jean-Pierre Mocky ("Snobs!"), Orson Welles ("The Trial"), François Truffaut ("The Bride was in black", "Stolen kisses"), Louis Malle ("Le souffle au coeur"), Jacques Rivette ("Out 1") and Jean Eustache ("A dirty story").

He gives the reply to Louis de Funès in "Hibernatus" (Edouard Molinaro) and has fun in "The mystery of the Yellow Room" (Bruno Podalydès), with Catherine Breillat ("An old mistress"), or even with the young Pio Marmaï ("Maestro").

Artist-painter, this great connoisseur of Saint-John Perse and Saint Jean de La Croix, lends his voice to countless documentaries, audio books, reads and records Montaigne, Nietzsche, Proust, or Saint François d'Assise.

Awakened to the faith by a blind godmother, he joined the Charismatic Renewal in 1987 and founded "Magnificat" a prayer group for artists.

ab-rap-jfg-fbe / fmp / nm

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