Aged 87, comedian, humorist and musician Robert Castel died on Saturday after a long illness, his family announced.
Born in Algeria, he won France in 1962 and conquered the public with his "pied-noir" humor.
In cinema and television, he mostly took on supporting roles.
The comedian, humorist and musician Robert Castel, known as the father of "pied-noir" humor, died Saturday in Paris at the age of 87, his family told AFP.
He "died today at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital" (AP-HP), in Paris, following a "long illness", she said.
Born on May 21, 1933 in Bab El Oued, Robert Moyal, whose real name was, made a name for himself with the play "The Hernandez family", staged in 1957 with the actresses Lucette Sahuquet and Marthe Villalonga.
The play, which is a huge success in Algeria and then in Paris, allows the metropolis to discover folklore and the typical expressions of the Pieds-Noirs.
"Nostalgia"
In 1962, he left the newly independent Algeria for good and moved to Paris with Lucette Sahuquet, whom he married.
The latter died in 1987 at the age of 60.
Robert Castel then remarried.
He did not have children.
He then continued sketches on stages and on television, and supporting roles in the cinema, until the beginning of the 2000s. Robert Castel had returned to the stage in 2007 with the musical project "El Gusto", an orchestra of blackfoot Jewish musicians and Algerian Arabs, before a last one-man-show in 2013, "Nostalgérie".