# Roger Blin

Roger Blin (22 March 1907 – 21 January 1984) was a French actor and director. He staged world premieres of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot in 1953 and Endgame in 1957.

## Biography

Blin was the son of a doctor; however, despite his father's wishes, Blin forged a career in the theatre. As a teenager he was 'fascinated' by the Surrealists and their conception of revolutionary art.$^{:35}$
He was initially part of the left-wing theatre collectives The Company of Five and The October Group. In 1935 Blin served as Antonin Artaud's assistant director for his production of Les Cenci (The Cenci) at the Folies-Wagrams theatre in 1935.$^{:35}$ Following his work with Artaud, Blin focused on 'political street-theatre.'$^{:46}$
During the war, Blin was a liaison between the Resistance and the French Army.
His extensive career as both director and actor in both film and theatre has been largely defined by his work and relationship with Artaud, Samuel Beckett and Jean Genet. In addition to being a close friend and confidant of Artaud during the latter's nine years of internment, he directed the first performances of Beckett's Waiting For Godot, Happy Days and Endgame as well as directing the initial performance of Genet's The Blacks and the controversial The Screens. Genet's key correspondences to Blin have been published by Editions Gallimard. Samuel Beckett, in a letter to George Duthuit, said that he thought Blin wasn't a great actor nor director, but he had a great love for the theater.
The 1986 Faber and Faber publication, "Samuel Beckett: The Complete Dramatic Works" carries only three dedications from Beckett: "Endgame" is dedicated to Blin, while "Come and Go" is for John Calder, and "Catastrophe" is for Václav Havel.

## Partial filmography

* Street Without a Name (1934)
* Zouzou (1934) – Le témoin du meurtre (uncredited)
* The Mutiny of the Elsinore (1936) – Un marin
* Razumov: Sous les yeux d'occident (1936) – (uncredited)
* Life Belongs to Us (1936) – Un métallo
* Jenny (1936) – Le Malade solitaire
* Beethoven's Great Love (1936) – de Ries
* The Citadel of Silence (1937) – Un officier
* La dame de pique (1937) – (uncredited)
* The Alibi (1937) – Kretz, l'homme de main de Winckler
* Le temps des cerises (1938) – Le fils Dupuis
* Rasputin (1938) – Le jeune paysan (uncredited)
* The Lafarge Case (1938) – Le journalier
* Adrienne Lecouvreur (1938) – l'alchimiste
* The Curtain Rises (1938) – Dominique
* The White Slave (1939) – Maïr
* Louise (1939) – Un rapin (uncredited)
* The World Will Tremble (1939) – Le condamné
* Battement de coeur (1940)
* Volpone (1941) – Un vénitien (uncredited)
* L'âge d'or (1942)
* The Trump Card (1942) – Un aspirant
* Les Visiteurs du Soir (1942) – Le montreur de monstres
* Captain Fracasse (1943) – Fagotin / Fagottino
* Goodbye Leonard (1943) – Le chef bohémien
* Le Corbeau (1943) – François
* Love Story (1943) – L'homme du théâtre (uncredited)
* Colonel Chabert (1943) – Un Clerc
* First on the Rope (1944) – Paul Moury
* La vie de bohème (1945)
* The Last Judgment (1945)
* The Ideal Couple (1946) – Le somnambule
* Passionnelle (1947) – Julien
* Wicked City (1949) – Emilio
* Histoires extraordinaires (1949) – Guillaume
* Orpheus (1950) – The Poet
* Vagabonds imaginaires (1950) – Le récitant (segment 'Les amours jaunes') (voice)
* The Convict (1951) – Un bagnard
* Adventures of Captain Fabian (1951) – Philippe
* The King and the Mockingbird (1952) – L'aveugle (voice)
* Piédalu Works Miracles (1952)
* Le Chevalier de la nuit (1953) – Le domestique
* Your Turn, Callaghan (1955) – Wladimir
* The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956) – Mathias Hungadi
* Les Tripes au soleil (1959) – Slim
* Paris Blues (1961) – Fausto the Moor (uncredited)
* A Taste for Women (1964) – Larsen
* Marie Soleil (1964) – Karl / Boss
* Les ruses du diable (Neuf portraits d'une jeune fille) (1966) – Monsieur de Beaurepaire
* Le Dimanche de la vie (1967) – Jean Sans-Tête
* La loi du survivant (1967) – Pao
* Trop petit mon ami (1970) – Boris
* Traîté du rossignol (1971) – Lars Larsen
* Dada au coeur (1974) – Max
* L'important c'est d'aimer (1975) – Servais's father
* Aloïse (1975) – Le professeur de chant
* Lily, aime-moi (1975) – Lily's father
* Il faut vivre dangereusement (1975) – Murdoc
* Nevermore, Forever (1976) – Daniel
* The Old Country Where Rimbaud Died (1977) – Le père de Jeanne
* Solveig et le violon turc (1977)
* The Adolescent (1979) – Romain
* Five and the Skin (1982) – Récitant (voice)