He was the father of the Le Quesnoy family in Life is a long calm river released in 1988, Étienne Chatiliez’s first film and theatrical success. Subsequently, he was the star actor of director Aki Kaurismäki. Especially in movies The bohemian life (1992), Leningrad Cowboys meet Moses (1994), Juha (1999), Le Havre (2011) or even The Other Side of Hope (2017) as pointed out by our colleagues from Le Parisien. “He” is none other than André Wilms, a well-known face of cinema who died at the age of 74 this Wednesday, February 9, as his agent announced.
Throughout his life, André Wilms laughed when journalists asked him how a set worked. Especially when a director did not speak the same language as the actors in the project: “Great directors don’t need to talk! He would say to me, ‘Play like an old gentleman. Don’t run. Don’t spill anything’ […] Everybody’s running in movies these days”he explained, while making the comparison with his favorite director with whom he so loved to collaborate: “Aki is one of the few directors who does not take actors for illiterates, although there are many of them”. It is therefore a great loss for the cinema but also for his family and his circle of friends.
A circle made up of actors, of course, but also artists such as singers. Proof of this is with Patrick Bruel who wanted to pay him, too, a vibrant tribute. The one who was recently in Corsica to record a title with Patrick Fiori or Florent Pagny, took over his Instagram account to address a few words to his friend who left a few days ago: “We had a nice moment of sharing with this beautiful actor. #andréwims is gone tonight… Hi artist”.
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