Jean-Pierre Cassel

A tall, attractive leading man who worked as an extra and nightclub dancer before being "discovered" by Gene Kelly and cast in "The Happy Road" (1956), Jean-Pierre Cassel went on to establish himself in a series of Phillipe de Broca comedies, developing the persona and facile smile for the farcical romantic roles that became his metier. The whimsical Frenchman began appearing in English-language films of the 60s like "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" (1965) and "Oh! What a Lovely War" (1969), both featuring star-studded international casts. He was the dinner host in Luis Bunuel's award-winning "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" (1972) and also acted in Sydney Lumet's "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974) about the time he was embarking on the Richard Lester "Musketeer" franchise, which saw him play King Louis XIII in "The Three Musketeers" (also 1974) and "The Four Musketeers" (1975), then Cyrano de Bergerac for "The Return of the Musketeers" (1989). The older Cassel has portrayed such character parts as Dr. Paul Gachet in Robert Altman's "Vincent & Theo" and Police Inspector Ledoux for the NBC-miniseries "The Phantom of the Opera" (both 1990), directed by Tony Richardson. More recently, he co-starred with Marisa Berenson in the Lifetime remake of "Notorious" (1992) and portrayed Jacqueline Bisset's wealthy husband in Claude Chabrol's "La Ceremonie" (1994).