Jean-Pierre Cassel looks back with sensitivity and warmth upon his career, telling his story through those of others. He offers the reader an impressive gallery of portraits: Jean Renoir, Abel Gance, René Clair, Luis Buñuel, Jean Vilar, Claude Chabrol, Jean-Pierre Melville, Joseph Losey, Maria Callas, Lauren Bacall… At times surprising, these portraits unveil unexpected facets of these extraordinary personalities. With friendship and respect, he speaks of these men and women he worked with who in turn fascinated or disappointed him. Gracefully and with finesse but never nostalgic, he recalls first encounters, the laughter and the tensions, the enthusiasm and misunderstandings, the arguments and the pleasures of film shootings and rehearsals.
For the first portrait of the book, Jean-Pierre Cassel – himself a discreet and reserved actor – chose to celebrate the insolence and grace of Fred Astaire…
Jean-Pierre Cassel was born in 1932. He has appeared in about a hundred films for cinema and television and played in about fifty plays. This, his first book, reveals a certain modesty and sense of humor which will delight film and theatre lovers alike.