Actor Michel Cordes, interpreter of Roland in “Plus belle la vie”, found dead by firearm – Liberation

2023-05-05 22:04:47

The body of the 77-year-old actor was found in his house in the suburbs of Montpellier next to a firearm. The trail of suicide is not excluded according to a source close to the investigation.

Michel Cordes, who played a central character in the iconic series More beautiful life, died at the age of 77 on Friday by a firearm in the suburbs of Montpellier. The actor, who played the boss of the Le Mistral café in the cult television soap opera in France, which stopped at the end of 2022, was found at his home in the afternoon, information initially revealed by the regional daily Free lunch.

The Montpellier prosecutor’s office, which could not be reached immediately, opened an investigation entrusted to the gendarmerie to determine the causes of death. According to The Parisian, the actor would have left a letter, which suggests a suicide. There were no signs of beatings, violence or break-ins on the spot. More beautiful life is the longest soap opera ever produced in France, originally broadcast on France 3 and now rebroadcast on YouTube. The series, shot in the fictional Marseille district of Mistral, was stopped by France Télévisions at the end of 2022. It was able to attract up to six million spectators per evening.

18 years old More beautiful life

Michel Cordes, who was born on October 20, 1945 in the Hérault, embodied, for 18 years in Plus Belle la vie, Roland, the owner of the bar Le Mistral where many stories of this series were tied. Before his fictional death in the series, on the Place du Mistral, the actors of More beautiful life sent him public messages, praising “a very handsome actor but above all a simple and sincere man” as well as his “kindness”.

Michel Cordes the actor who played Roland Marci in Plus Belle la Vie has died.
We will not forget this beautiful sequence.

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— Marseille Champions Quiz ???? (@MCQofficiel) May 5, 2023

Michel Cordes had also played secondary roles in films like The Hussar on the roof by Jean-Paul Rappenau, alongside Juliette Binoche and Olivier Martinez (1995), or in A matter of taste (2000) alongside Bernard Giraudeau. He had also had a long career in the theater, as an actor but also as a director. A fervent defender of Occitan, he had suffered from the contempt of some for his accent.

“France is so made that as soon as you hear a southern accent, fools laugh. I’ve traveled a lot and I can tell you: as soon as you have the accent, people laugh. A bit like politicians when they want to denigrate you or belittle you to dominate you”he confided to Montpellier Gazette in 2017. But in addition to the stage, the man had also learned the profession of cabinetmaker and he was also a sculptor.