Michel Bouquet death: Acclaimed French actor dies aged 96

French president Emmanuel Macron described the late actor as a ‘sacred monster’ in a tribute

French actor Michel Bouquet photographed in 2019 (AFP via Getty Images)

Michel Bouquet, the acclaimed French actor and star of stage and screen, has died at the age of 96.

Bouquet won two César Awards – widely regarded as France’s equivalent to an Oscar – for Best Actor over the course of his long career.

News of the actor’s death was announced by Élysée Palace, the office of French president Emmanuel Macron, on Wednesday 13 April.

”It’s a sacred monster who has just left us,” said Macron in a statement shared online (per BBC News translation).

“For seven decades, Michel Bouquet brought theatre and cinema to the highest degree of incandescence and truth, showing man in all his contradictions, with an intensity that burned the boards and burst the screen,” he wrote.

Bouquet began working in films in the 1940s, and continued working as an actor for more than seven decades, appearing in over 100 projects.

His most recent turn came in the 2020 film Villa Caprice.

Bouquet earned his first César award for his role in How I Killed My Father in 2001, winning again four years later for his portrayal of French president François Mitterrand in The Last Mitterrand.

His theatre work was also highly acclaimed, and Bouquet won two Molière Awards for acting, France’s highest theatrical honour, as well as an honourary award in 2014.

In 2018, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour for his contributions to the arts.