Roger Blin

Roger Blin (22 March 1907 – 21 January 1984) was a French actor and director notable for directing (and starring in) the first production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot.

Blin was the son of a doctor; however, despite his father's wishes, Blin forged a career in the theatre. Initially part of the left-wing theatre collectives The Company of Five and The October Group, Blin assisted Antonin Artaud in producing the latter's The Cenci at the Folies-Wagrams theatre in 1935. During the war, Blin was a liaison between the Resistance and the French Army.

His extensive career as both director and actor in both film and theatre has been largely defined by his work and relationship with Artaud, Samuel Beckett and Jean Genet. In addition to being a close friend and confident of Artaud during the latter's nine years of internment, he directed the first performances of Beckett's Waiting For Godot, Happy Days and Endgame as well as directing the initial performance of Genet's The Blacks and the controversial The Screens. Genet's key correspondences to Blin have been published by Editions Gallimard.

The 1986 Faber and Faber publication, "Samuel Beckett: The Complete Dramatic Works" carries only three dedications from Beckett: "Endgame" is dedicated to Blin, while "Come and Go" is for John Calder, and "Catastrophe" is for Vaclav Havel.

Selected filmography

• Adrienne Lecouvreur (1938)
• Orpheus (1950)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956)
• L'important c'est d'aimer (1975)
• The Adolescent (1979)