Robert Le Vigan (born Robert Coquillaud, 7 January 1900 – 12 October 1972) was a French actor.

Robert Le Vigan
Le Vigan in 1942
Born
Robert Charles Alexandre Coquillaud

(1900-01-07)7 January 1900
Died12 October 1972(1972-10-12) (aged 72)
OccupationActor
Years active1919–1952

He appeared in more than 60 films between 1931 and 1943 almost exclusively in small or supporting roles. He was, according to film academic Ginette Vincendeau, a "brilliant, extravagant actor" who "specialised in louche, menacing or diabolical characters".[1]

A collaborator with the Nazis during the occupation, who openly expressed fascist attitudes,[2] he vanished while playing Jéricho in Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis), a film deliberately released in May 1945 shortly after the liberation of Europe; Le Vigan was replaced by Pierre Renoir. He was sentenced to forced labour for 10 years in 1946. Released on parole after three years working in a camp, Le Vigan absconded to Spain, and then Argentina, dying there in poverty on 12 October 1972 in the city of Tandil.[1]

Selected filmography

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Ginette Vincendeau (ed) Encyclopedia of European Cinema, London: Casell/BFI, 1995, p.262
  2. ^ Rémi Fournier Lanzoni French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present, New York and London: Continuum, 2002, p.139. According to Fournier Lanzoni, Le Vigan found exile in Argentina.
edit