Michel Piccoli

Born Jacques Daniel Michel Piccoli on 27 December 1925, he built a career that stretched across 70 years of French cinema, moving through roles with a versatility that resisted easy categorization. He became known as one of the greatest French character actors of his generation, the kind of performer who could adjust to wildly different material and directors without imposing a signature. The work earned him a Best Actor Award at Cannes and a Silver Bear at Berlin. He died on 12 May 2020, having spent most of a century refusing to repeat himself.