Philippe Noiret, the lovable, cherub-faced French character actor who was much beloved in such films as Cinema Paradiso and The Postman, died of cancer on November 23 at a hospital in Paris. He was 76.

Noiret was born on October 1, 1930, in Lille, Nord, France, into a middle class family of merchants. His academic studies always took a backseat for his love of drama, and at age 19, he cemented his commitment to theater when he enrolled in the Centre Dramatique de l'Ouest. He appeared in several theatrical productions (most notably the Theatre Nationale Populaire du Paris), and in his spare-time was a nightclub comic and entertainer.

He garnered a notable role as an ineffective government employee in Agnes Varda's The Short Point (1956), but it was Louis Malle who put Noiret on the map when he played the boisterous transsexual for Zazie in the Metro (1960). Throughout the '60s, Noiret was something of a cult character actor and he carried his momentum through a succession of popular British movies: Peter Ustinov's whimsical Lady L (1965); Anatole Litvak's unsettling murder mystery The Night of the Generals (1967); Alfred Hitchcock's effective cold war chiller Topaz (1969); and Peter Yates' exciting actioner Murphy's War (1971).

As he approached his mid-40s, Noiret, like good French wine, was getting better with age, and his performances breathed life and texture into roles that could have been written off as middle-aged idealists: his turn as the vengeful surgeon in the war drama The Old Gun (1975); as a lover to Romy Schneider in the underrated soap opera A Woman at Her Window (1976); the corrupt cop with a good heart in the smash comedy My New Partner (1984); his valid star turn as Alfredo, the town projectionist in Cinema Paradiso (1988); the military officer confronting his morality in Life and Nothing But (1989); and his acclaimed portrayal of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda in The Postman (1994).

In 2005, he received the Légion of Honor (France's highest order) for his contribution to the arts. He just completed his last movie, Three Friends, this year with director Michel Boujenah which is due for release next spring. He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Monique; and a daughter, Frederique.

by Michael T. Toole