Sacha Pitoëff

Sacha Pitoëff
Sacha Pitoeff (on the left) with Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff and Yul Brinner in Anastasia (1956).
Born	(1920-03-11)11 March 1920 Geneva, Switzerland
Died	21 July 1990(1990-07-21) (aged 70) Paris, France
Nationality	Swiss
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1952-1980

Sacha Pitoëff (11 March 1920 – 21 July 1990) was a Swiss film actor and theatre director.

Born in Geneva, Switzerland, the son of Georges and Ludmilla Pitoëff, Sacha Pitoëff played his first film role in 1952. Appearing in over 50 films, he is probably best known for his performance in Alain Resnais's enigmatic Last Year at Marienbad (1960), as a character known simply as "M". He was also featured in roles of various sizes in such films as René Clément's Is Paris Burning? (1967) and Jacques Demy's Donkey Skin (1970). Toward the end of his career, he began appearing in horror films, including Dario Argento's Inferno (1980) and the low budget Patrick Still Lives (1980). His height, face and hands suggest he may have had Marfan syndrome.

Selected filmography

• The Seven Deadly Sins (1952) - Le pianiste (segment "Orgueil, L' / Pride") (uncredited)
• Rasputin (1954) - Le chef de la police
• Anastasia (1956) - Piotr Ivanovich Petrovin
• La Polka des menottes (1957) - Eugène, le clochard
• Les Espions (1957) - Léon
• A Tale of Two Cities (1958) - Gaspard (uncredited)
• Cette nuit-là (1958) - L'homme shakespearien (uncredited)
• Le Joueur (1958) - Afpley
• Bouche cousue (1960) - Jo
• Captain Fracasse (1961) - Matamore
• Last Year at Marienbad (1961) - M - l'autre homme au visage maigre, le mari
• The Three Musketeers (1961) - Felton
• La Poupée (1962) - Sayas
• La Dénonciation (1962) - Malferrer
• The Prize (1963) - Daranyi
• Lady L (1965) - Bomb-throwing revolutionary
• Paris brûle-t-il? (1966) - Frédéric Joliot-Curie
• The Night of the Generals (1967) - Doctor
• L'écume des jours (1968) - Le pharmacien
• The Golden Claws of the Cat Girl (1968) - Saratoga
• The Pleasure Pit (1969) - Le chef de l'organisation
• The Ball of Count Orgel (1970) - Le prince Naroumof
• Donkey Skin (1970) - Le premier ministre (The Minister)
• To Catch a Spy (1971) - Stefan
• Escape to the Sun (1972)
• Le journal d'un suicidé (1973) - Le geôlier
• La guerre du pétrole n'aura pas lieu (1975) - Essaan
• Dossier 51 (1978) - Minerve 1 (voice)
• Subversion (1979) - Le Président
• Inferno (1980) - Kazanian
• Patrick Still Lives (1980) - Dr. Herschel

References

• Sacha Pitoëff at IMDb