André Wilms, an iconic theatre and film actor who was also a comedian, has just died at the age of 74.
According to the report by AFP, his agent and Liberation journalist Didier Péron, confirming the death of André Wilms said he died on Thursday, but did not reveal the cause of death.
The Strasbourg actor was a regular in Etienne Chatilliez’s films, from Life is a Long Quiet River (1988), to Trust Reigns (2004), via Tatie Danielle (1990), and Tanguy (2001).
André Wilms has also filmed for Claude Chabrol ( L’Enfer in 1994), François Ozon ( Ricky in 2009), Jean-Jacques Beineix ( Roselyne and the lions in 1989) or Philippe Garrel (The Salt of Tears).
He was a favourite actor of Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki, whom he played in La Vie de Bohème (1992), The Leningrad Cowboys meet Moïse (1994), Juha (1999) and Le Havre (2011).
Films marked by lunar characters and poetic dialogues, with a certain tenderness for the characters. In Le Havre, André Wilms was a shoe shiner, reaching out to a young undocumented African. The film was awarded the 2011 Louis-Delluc prize, considered the Goncourt of cinema
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André laughed when asked about the operation of a set whose boss does not speak the language: “Great directors don’t need to talk! He would say to me: ‘Play like an old gentleman . Don’t run. Don’t spill anything’… Everybody’s running in movies these days”.
André has always been wary of the vagaries of fame. Born in 1947 in Strasbourg, where he obtained a plasterer’s CAP, he left his hometown for Toulouse. Having become a machinist in a theatre, he was then tempted to step onto the stage. He achieves this as an extra.