Anecdotes

Hergé, the Belgian author/cartoonist of the world famous Tintin cartoons, felt that Noiret was the ideal choice to play a live action version of Tintin's "Captain Haddock" character.

The winner of two Cesar Awards (French equivalent of the Oscars), he has never attempted stardom in Hollywood.

Known for his droopy bloodhound features, in real life he was an unabashed dog lover.

Once a nightclub entertainer.

A favorite of director Bertrand Tavernier.

After failing three times to pass his baccalaureate (the secondary school diploma in France) exams, he decided to study theater.

Noiret played the Walter Matthau role in the Paris stage production of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple.".

Received a special tribute as part of the Annual Memorial tribute at The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007).

He was the only French actor to play a major role in The Return of the Musketeers (1989). Ironically, his character Cardinal Mazarin was Italian in spite of the fact that he served as France's Chief Minister from 1642 to 1661.

In 1963, he recorded with Jean-Pierre Darras the French songs "Consuela", "Marche Grecque", "Mon Grand" and "Paris-Paname" which were written by Henri Betti (music) and Jean Cosmos (lyrics).

Noiret doesn't believe in going to rushes. He doesn't wish to see his work in fragments before the film is edited together.

Received the Légion d'Honneur (France's highest order) in 2005.

Noiret entered films in 1956 after spending his first years as an actor in the French National Theater (T.N.P.).

Brother-in-law of actor François Chaumette.

Trained at the Centre Dramatique de l'Ouest.

He appeared in three films that were Oscar nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film category: Trois frères (1981), Coup de torchon (1981) and Cinéma Paradiso (1988), with the latter being a winner in the category. He also appears in the Best Picture nominee: Le facteur (1994).

Uncle of actress Sarah Chaumette.

He developed a career as a nightclub comedian in a duo act with Jean-Pierre Darras, in which he played Louis XIV in an extravagant wig opposite Darras as the dramatist Jean Racine. In these roles they satirized the politics of Charles de Gaulle, Michel Debré and André Malraux.

Noiret was cast primarily as the Everyman character, although he did not hesitate to accept controversial roles, such as in La Grande Bouffe, a film about suicide by overeating, which caused a scandal at Cannes in 1973, and in 1991 André Téchiné cast Noiret in J'embrasse pas (I Don't Kiss), as a melancholy old homosexual obsessed with young male flesh.

Noiret's screen debut (1949) was an uncredited role in Gigi, directed by Jacqueline Audry.