Michel Albertini

Michel Yves Albertini, a French actor, scenographer, theatre director and writer whose screen work ranged from Andre Cayatte's Verdict opposite Jean Gabin and Sophia Loren to Claude Sautet's Nelly and Mr. Arnaud, died on 25 August 2026. He was 73. The news was made public days later by his former brother-in-law Manuel Gelin, and his former partner Fiona Gelin paid tribute to the father of their son Milan.

Born on 15 May 1953 in Marseille to a Corsican family, Albertini decided on an acting life as a schoolboy after reciting Victor Hugo's Oceano Nox in class. He studied at the Lycee Saint-Charles, helped found the Mini Theatre de Marseille, and trained at the Marseille Conservatoire. Brief work as a dancer with Roland Petit's company, including Pink Floyd Ballet, Carmen and Zizi Jeanmaire's Zizi je t'aime at the Casino de Paris, preceded entry to the Conservatoire national superior in Paris under Jean-Pierre Miquel, Pierre Debauche and Antoine Vitez. A Villa Medicis Hors les Murs scholarship took him to New York, where he met William Burroughs and Brion Gysin.

On screen he appeared early in La Main a couper and Verdict (both 1974), then in I as in Icarus (1979), The Public Woman (1984), L'Amour braque and All Mixed Up (1985), The Veiled Man (1987) and, memorably, as Taieb in Nelly and Mr. Arnaud (1995) with Emmanuelle Beart and Michel Serrault. Later film credits included Tempo (2003) and Guy (2018). On television he was widely seen as Paul-Noel Agostini in seasons 3 and 4 of Canal+'s Mafiosa and as Commissaire Mercadal across eleven episodes of 72 heures, with further guest roles in Largo Winch, Alex Santana, negociateur and Femmes de loi.

Alongside acting he built a long stage career as performer and director, from classics such as Caligula and Dom Juan to his own plays, and from the early 2000s he designed scenography for major Napoleonic exhibitions for the Fondation Napoleon and related venues including the Chateau de Malmaison and the Musee de l'Armee. He also published as a writer. Colleagues remembered both his force as a performer and his curiosity as a humanist of the stage. He is survived by his son Milan.