Roger Blin

Roger Blin (Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, 22 March 1907 – Évecquemont, France, 21 January 1984) was a French actor and director notable for staging world premieres of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot in 1953 and Endgame in 1957.[1]

Roger Blin
Born(1907-03-22)22 March 1907
Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Died21 January 1984(1984-01-21) (aged 76)
Évecquemont, France
NationalityFrench
OccupationFilm director, Actor
Years active1925-1983

Biography

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 confidant 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 Václav Havel.

Partial filmography
  • Street Without a Name (1934)
  • Zouzou (1934) - Le témoin du meurtre (uncredited)
  • Les mutinés de l'Elseneur (1936) - Un marin
  • Razumov: Sous les yeux d'occident (1936) - (uncredited)
  • Life Belongs to Us (1936) - Un métallo
  • Jenny (1936) - Le Malade solitaire
  • Beethoven's Great Love (1936) - de Ries
  • The Citadel of Silence (1937) - Un officier
  • La dame de pique (1937) - (uncredited)
  • The Alibi (1937) - Kretz, l'homme de main de Winckler
  • Le temps des cerises (1938) - Le fils Dupuis
  • Rasputin (1938) - Le jeune paysan (uncredited)
  • The Lafarge Case (1938) - Le journalier
  • Adrienne Lecouvreur (1938) - l'alchimiste
  • The Curtain Rises (1938) - Dominique
  • L'Esclave blanche (1939) - Maïr
  • Louise (1939) - Un rapin (uncredited)
  • The World Will Shake (1939) - Le condamné
  • Battement de coeur (1940)
  • Volpone (1941) - Un vénitien (uncredited)
  • L'âge d'or (1942)
  • The Trump Card (1942) - Un aspirant
  • Les Visiteurs du Soir (1942) - Le montreur de monstres
  • Captain Fracasse (1943) - Fagotin / Fagottino
  • Goodbye Leonard (1943) - Le chef bohémien
  • Le Corbeau (1943) - François
  • Love Story (1943) - L'homme du théâtre (uncredited)
  • Colonel Chabert (1943) - Un Clerc
  • Premier de cordée (1944) - Paul Moury
  • La vie de bohème (1945)
  • The Last Judgment (1945)
  • The Ideal Couple (1946) - Le somnambule
  • Passionnelle (1947) - Julien
  • Wicked City (1949) - Emilio
  • Histoires extraordinaires (1949) - Guillaume
  • Orpheus (1950) - The Poet
  • Vagabonds imaginaires (1950) - Le récitant (segment 'Les amours jaunes') (voice)
  • Le bagnard (1951) - Un bagnard
  • Adventures of Captain Fabian (1951) - Philippe
  • The King and the Mockingbird (1952) - L'aveugle (voice)
  • Piédalu fait des miracles (1952)
  • Le Chevalier de la nuit (1953) - Le domestique
  • À toi de jouer Callaghan (1955) - Wladimir
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956) - Mathias Hungadi
  • Les Tripes au soleil (1959) - Slim
  • Paris Blues (1961) - Fausto the Moor (uncredited)
  • A Taste for Women (1964) - Larsen
  • Marie Soleil (1964) - Karl / Boss
  • Les ruses du diable (Neuf portraits d'une jeune fille) (1966) - Monsieur de Beaurepaire
  • Le Dimanche de la vie (1967) - Jean Sans-Tête
  • La loi du survivant (1967) - Pao
  • Trop petit mon ami (1970) - Boris
  • Traîté du rossignol (1971) - Lars Larsen
  • Dada au coeur (1974) - Max
  • L'important c'est d'aimer (1975) - Servais's father
  • Aloïse (1975) - Le professeur de chant
  • Lily, aime-moi (1975) - Lily's father
  • Il faut vivre dangereusement (1975) - Murdoc
  • Nevermore, Forever (1976) - Daniel
  • The Old Country Where Rimbaud Died (1977) - Le père de Jeanne
  • Solveig et le violon turc (1977)
  • The Adolescent (1979) - Romain
  • Five and the Skin (1982) - Récitant (voice)
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References
  1. C. J. Ackerley and S. E. Gontarski, The Grove Companion to Samuel Beckett (New York: Grove Press, 2004), 63.
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