A very sad news has just fallen on the viewers like all the actors of the series More beautiful life. This Friday, May 5, 2023, we learned of the death of Michel Cordes. The one who played for 18 seasons, from 2004 to 2022, the emblematic Roland Marci, grumpy boss of the bar the Mistral, was found dead, visibly shot to suicide at his home in Grabels, near Montpellier, in Hérault. A property located at number 27 rue des Lavandes where he had been living for a year and a half. A letter to the attention of his wife and his beloved children was found near his body. He had himself decided to leave the series shortly before its final end, in October 2022, by France Televisions. Simply wanting, at 77, to ease off a bit and devote herself to her passion for sculpture…
Since this terrible announcement that no one expected, the other stars of this Marseille saga still can not achieve. In shock, most of them took to social networks to express their unfathomable sadness but also incomprehension…
“A father, a grandfather, a friend, a brother!”
“NO!!! I don’t want to this awful news. I don’t want to believe you’ve already left. I don’t want to cry for you. I do not want !” reacted from his Instagram account captain Patrick Nebout, alias Jérôme Bertin. Adding, filled with grief:“I have the impression that tonight, all those who have known, done, watched, loved Plus belle la vie are orphans. Michel, our national Roland, is like a dad for all of us” also reminding “the mischievous gaze of the child he had kept inside him and at the same time this jovial wisdom, his smile and this voice”, which made the popularity of Michel Cordes. For his part, Pierre Martot, alias Léo Castelli, shouts his dismay on Instagram:“I never imagined that you would leave so quickly! I liked being with you Michel” and to explain that through the character of Roland, millions of people have recognized in you a father, a grandfather, a friend, a brother! You were the living embodiment of something very deep in this country – that’s why people loved you so much.” All his playmates mourn today the one who was an integral part of their big family at heart. And if some could not refrain from paying him long tributes, others preferred to think of him soberly… This is the case of Alexandre Fabre, who played Charles Frémont who posted a single photo of Michel Cordes, no comment. Under the picture, Stéphanie Pareja, alias Jeanne Carmin, could not contain her emotion “My Roland I’m devastated it’s horrible” she wrote while Lola Marois, playing Ariane Hersant, affixed emojis in tears under the tribute of Jérôme Bertin. Great sorrows are silent, they say. Witness Laëtitia Millot who simply published a photo of a black background, without any caption. A publication that did not fail to react to its community: “This is sad news… Good luck my Laetita Milot I know you were very close”, “A very sad news. All our condolences to the PBLV family”, “I send you all my strength my Laeti, during this more than difficult ordeal. I have no words”, we could read among the comments. A new ordeal to overcome for the one who interpreted Mélanie Rinato…
VF