Cresté, René

(1881-1922)

   Actor. René Cresté was a silent-film actor best known for his portrayal of Judex, the crime fighting hero of Louis Feuillade's eponymous series. Cresté got his acting start in 1908 but did not appear in anything significant until 1912, when Léonce Perret cast him in three of his films, L 'Amour et la lumière, La Bonne hôtesse, and Le Mariage de Suzie. Perret went on to cast Cresté in numerous other films, including Le Roi de la montagne (1915), Les Mystères de l'ombre (1915), Le Retour du passé (1916), and Dernier amour (1916).

   In 1916, Cresté was cast by Feuillade as the title character in Judex. The series made him a film legend. Feuillade cast Cresté again in 1918, in his Tih-Minh series, but his performance here could never rival his incarnation of Feuillade's legendary crime fighter. Cresté would forever remain Judex to the film public, a reality cemented by his reprisal of the role in the second series made by Feuillade in 1918. Cresté played in other Feuillade films, including Vendémiare (1918). But his untimely death from tuberculosis never afforded him the opportunity to create another legend onscreen.