French male stage actors

Pierre Louki, born Pierre Varenne on 25 July 1920 in Brienon-sur-Armançon in Yonne, died 21 December 2006, was a French actor and singer/songwriter.
Louki was the son of Georges Varenne, a teacher in the Yonne who was killed in Auschwitz. He learnt the theatre in Auxerre before going to Paris in the early 1950s, where he met Roger Blin and Jean-Louis Barrault. He subsequently played in Blin's production of En attendant Godot. He also began song-writing at this time.
Among the interpreters of Louki's more than 200 chansons (besides himself) were Lucette Raillat, Catherine Sauvage, Francesca Solleville, Isabelle Aubret, Les Frères Jacques, Juliette Gréco, Jean Ferrat, Philippe Clay, Colette Renard, Annie Cordy and Georges Brassens. He toured with the latter and wrote a book of recollections entitled Avec Brassens (éditions Christian Pirot, 1999, ISBN 2-86808-129-0).
He received the Académie Charles Cros prize in 1972, and in 1999, the SACEM André-Didier Mauprey prize.
Pierre Louki also appeared as stage author and actor and broadcast on France-Culture, while on television he took part in programmes of Jean-Christophe Averty.
He wrote several books for children and his memoirs are Quelques confidences (éditions Christian Pirot, septembre 2006).

Marcel-Louis Bozonnet (born 18 May 1944, in Semur-en-Auxois), is a French actor.
Bozonnet entered the Comédie-Française in 1982, and became a "sociétaire" in 1986. He subsequently directed the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique de Paris from 1993 to 2001.
Appointed administrateur général of the Comédie-Française in 2001, il opened the salle Richelieu to contemporary authors (creating a poay of Valère Novarina in 2006), created a notable show on the Fables of Jean de La Fontaine produced by Bob Wilson, and recruited the first black member of the Théâtre Français (Bakary Sangaré).
Nonetheless, certain of his productions did not convince the critics, such as Le Tartuffe (which he produced himself), and Le Cid (El Cid) in 2006.
In 2006, he was at the centre of a row after he discontinued the production of a play by Peter Handke Voyage au pays sonore ou l'Art de la question, which was under negotiation in 2007. Handke, an Austrian playwright, had attended the burial of the reviled Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic and had made a speech there denying the events of the Yugoslav war. It was for this reason that Bozonnet withdrew support for showing Handke's play. Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, the French minister of culture, implicitly criticized Bozonnet's action in a letter addressed to Bozonnet, and by deciding to invite Handke to the ministry.
Despite hoping for another term as administrator of the Comédie-Française, his directorship was not renewed, and Muriel Mayette took over on 4 August 2006.

François Jean Blanche, known as "Francis Blanche" (20 July 1921 – 6 July 1974) was a French actor, singer, humorist and author. He was a very popular figure on stage, radio and in films, during the 1950s and 1960s.

Jean Piat (23 September 1924 – 18 September 2018) was a French actor and writer.

Antoine Louis Prosper "Frédérick" Lemaître (28 July 1800 – 26 January 1876) was a French actor and playwright, one of the most famous players on the celebrated Boulevard du Crime.

Francis Huster (born 8 December 1947) is a French stage, film and television actor, director and scriptwriter.

Samuel Le Bihan (born 2 November 1965) is a French actor, known for his role in Brotherhood of the Wolf.

Pierre-Chéri Lafont (16 May 1797 – 19 April 1873) was a French actor, born at Bordeaux.

Abandoning his profession as assistant ship's doctor in the navy, he went to Paris to study singing and acting. He had some experience at a small theater, and was preparing to appear at the Opéra Comique when the director of the Vaudeville offered him an engagement. Here he made his debut in 1821 in La Somnambule, and his good looks and excellent voice soon brought him into public favor. After several years at the Nouveautés and the Vaudeville, on the burning of the latter in 1838 he went to England, and married, at Gretna Green, Jenny Colon, from whom he was soon divorced. On his return to Paris, he joined the Variétés, where he acted for fifteen years in such plays as Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Le Lion empaillé, Une dernière conquête, etc.
Another engagement at the Vaudeville followed, and one at the Gaîté, and he ended his brilliant career at the Gymnase in the part of the noble father in such plays as Les Vieux Garçons and Nos bons villageois. On 12 July 1848 he married the dancer Pauline Leroux.
He died in Paris on 19 April 1873 and is buried in Montmartre Cemetery with Pauline Leroux.

Louis Seigner (23 June 1903 – 20 January 1991) was a French actor.
He was born in Saint-Chef, Isère, France, the son of Louise (Monin) and Joseph Seigner, and died in Paris. He was the father of actress Françoise Seigner, with Marie Cazeaux, and the grandfather of Emmanuelle Seigner, Mathilde Seigner and Marie-Amélie Seigner.

Claude Laydu ([klod lɛjdy]; 10 March 1927 – 29 July 2011) was a Belgian-born Swiss actor on stage and in films. He was renowned for his performance in his film debut in the role of the young priest in Robert Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest (1951), which has been described as one of the greatest in the history of film.