Robert, Yves

(1920-2002)

   Actor, director, producer, and screen-writer. Yves Robert was born in Saumur, France. He worked in the theater before debuting in cinema in René Lucot's Les Dieux du dimanche (1948). He subsequently acted in Marcel Carné's Juliette ou la Clef des songes (1950), Maurice Labro's Le Tampon du Capiston (1950), and Jean Anouilh's Deux sous de violettes (1951). In 1951, Robert made his directorial debut with the short Les bonnes manières (1951). His debut feature film was Les hommes ne pensent qu'à ça (1954), which featured Louis de Funès. Robert continued to act while working on his directing career. In the 1950s, he appeared in Marc Allégret's Futures Vedettes (1955), René Clair's Les grandes maneouvres (1955), and Claude Autant-Lara's La Jumente verte (1959).

   Robert's second feature was Ni vu, ni connu (1958), which also starred de Funès. It was followed by Signé Arsène Lupin (1959) and La famille Fenouillard (1961). His directing career soared with his La guerre des boutons (1962), starring Jacques Dufilho. The film was the largest grossing film in France in 1962 and among the top ten most successful French films in the latter part of the twentieth century. It also won the Prix Jean-Vigo. La guerre des boutons was also the first feature produced by Robert's company La Guéville, which he established with his wife, actress Danièle Delorme. Also in the 1960s, Robert directed Bébert et l'omnibus (1963), Les copains (1965),Monnaie de singe (1966), Alexandre le bienheureux (1968), and Clérambard (1969).

   In the 1970s, Robert directed some of France's most popular comedies. Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire was among France's five top-selling films of 1972. It was coscripted with Francis Veber and starred Pierre Richard. The film won the Silver Berlin Bear and was remade in Hollywood as The Man with One Red Shoe (1985), starring Tom Hanks. Robert directed a sequel, Le retour du grand blond (1974), also coscripted with Veber. Robert's Un éléphant ça trompe énormément (1976) and Nous irons tous au paradis (1977) were both among France's most successful films in the years they were released. Both were coscripted with Jean-Loup Dabadie. He also directed Salut l'artiste (1973) and Courage fuyons (1979). He had only one major role during the 1970s, in Claude Berri's Le cinéma de papa (1970). Interestingly, some of Robert's later films would be compared with Berri's.

   In the 1980s, Robert played principal roles in Claude Sautet's Un mauvais fils (1980) and Garçon! (1983). He directed a single film in that decade, Le jumeau (1984). As a director, he is most famous for the films that followed, La Gloire de mon père (1990) and Le Château de ma mère (1990). Both films were based on Marcel Pagnol's memoirs, Souvenirs d'enfance. Shot in Provence, the films have been classified as nostalgic heritage films and compared to the Pagnol films of Claude Berri. Robert's last two films as director were Le bal des casse-pieds (1992) and Montparnasse-Pondichéry (1994), both of which starred Miou-Miou.

   Robert continued to act in the 1990s. He played a lead role in Montparnasse-Pondichéry, and he also appeared in Coline Serreau's La Crise (1992) and Jean-Denis Robert's Sortez des rangs (1995). His last film as an actor was Gilles Bourdos's Disparus (1998).