--- name: "Jean Martin" canonical: "https://film.one/person/jean-martin" fi1m_id: "jean-martin" imdb_id: "nm0552483" tmdb_id: 39953 wikidata_id: "Q936758" roles: ["Actor"] born: "6 March 1922" died: "2 February 2009" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 88 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-17T21:33:24.993019+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Jean Martin ## Identity Jean Martin - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/jean-martin - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** jean-martin - **IMDb ID:** nm0552483 - **TMDB ID:** 39953 - **Wikidata ID:** Q936758 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Martin, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q936758, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0552483/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/39953 Actor. Born 6 March 1922 in Paris, France. Died 2 February 2009. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 6 March 1922, Paris, France - **Died:** 2 February 2009 - **Active:** 1966–1973 - **Average Fi1m score:** 88, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1960s 93 (1), 1970s 84 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Martin, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q936758, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0552483/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/39953 ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*The Battle of Algiers*](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers.md) (93) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Jean Martin > Jean Martin's particular gift is making authority sound matter-of-fact. We rate the dry precision of his work in *The Battle of Algiers*: he makes the colonel credible, and leaves us uncomfortable with what we have heard. In *The Battle of Algiers* (1966), Jean Martin's Colonel Philippe Mathieu makes military reasoning sound like something that can be explained carefully and understood. His delivery is dry, precise and faintly ironic; he gives the officer credibility without making a display of his own skill. We found him unnerving because the calm explanation gives us so little opportunity to dismiss the man doing the explaining. Gillo Pontecorvo's documentary manner needs that restraint, and Martin supplies it. The route to that work was through small film parts under Maurice Tourneur, then a substantial stretch on stage. With Roger Blin, Martin originated Lucky in *Waiting for Godot* (1953) and Clov in the French premiere of *Endgame* (1957). His screen career expanded into supporting roles in the mid-1960s, and *The Battle of Algiers* brought international recognition. The contrast is worth noticing: an actor entrusted with major Beckett roles could also make a long passage of military explanation feel like ordinary speech. Being the sole professional actor in that film might have made him conspicuous. Pontecorvo worried that his acting would clash with the non-professionals, but what we see is a convincing fit: Martin's restraint belongs beside Brahim Hadjadj's watchful Ali La Pointe and Yacef Saâdi's El-Hadi Jaffar. The limitation is the film's habit of moving away from individuals whenever the campaign needs explaining. We sometimes want longer with a person, Martin included, before attention moves elsewhere. His authority holds us through the explanations, though it cannot provide all the human detail the film leaves out. Officers, police commissioners, doctors and clergymen recur among his parts, so the danger of being used simply to supply authority is clear. His supporting work included Sullivan in *My Name Is Nobody* (1973) and Victor Wolenski in *The Day of the Jackal* (1973). He also voiced the bird in *The King and the Mockingbird* (1980), a reason to look beyond the officials. Start with *The Battle of Algiers*, but do not expect much comfort from the man explaining things so clearly. ## Biography Jean Martin (6 March 1922 – 2 February 2009) was a French actor of stage and screen. He originated the role of Lucky in the first production of Samuel Beckett's *Waiting for Godot* (1953) and later played Clov in *Endgame*. In 1960 Martin was a signatory of the Manifesto of the 121 against the Algerian War; the action led to his dismissal from the Théâtre National Populaire. He is best remembered internationally for his performance as Colonel Philippe Mathieu in Gillo Pontecorvo's *The Battle of Algiers* (1966), the only professional actor in the film. Martin appeared in more than eighty films and television productions. Among his other notable screen roles are Sullivan in *My Name Is Nobody* (1973) and Victor Wolenski in *The Day of the Jackal* (1973). *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, themoviedb.org.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *The Day of the Jackal* (1973), Fi1m 84, as Victor Wolenski — [page](https://film.one/film/the-day-of-the-jackal.md) - *The Battle of Algiers* (1966), Fi1m 93, as Colonel Philippe Mathieu — [page](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers.md) ## Complete filmography (57) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Lucie Aubrac* (1997), as Paul Lardanchet - *Les Jupons de la révolution* (1989), series, as Marquis de persan - *The Crime of Ovide Plouffe* (1984), as Sculpteur - *Le fou du désert* (1983), series, as Saint-Quentin - *La Puce et le privé* (1981), as Gérard Le Tizou, head waiter - *Inspector Blunder* (1980), as Examination policeman (uncredited) - *The King and the Mockingbird* (1980), as L’oiseau (voice) - *La Femme flic* (1980), as Le colonel Morange - *The Associate* (1979), as M. Bastias - *L'Homme en colère* (1979), as Bully - *Dossier 51* (1978), as Vénus - *The Cat* (1977), as Legrand - *Rendez-vous en noir* (1977), series, as Le commissaire - *Judge Fayard Called the Sheriff* (1977), as Surgeon - *The Carpathian Castle* (1976), as Orfanik, the Inventor - *A Woman at Her Window* (1976), as Drieu La Rochelle (uncredited) - *Le Gentleman des Antipodes* (1976), as Sainte-Rose - *The Wing or the Thigh?* (1976), as Le médecin - *Police Commissioner Moulin* (1976), series, as Larsen - *A Genius, Two Friends, and an Idiot* (1975), as Colonel Pembroke - *The Messiah* (1975), as Pontius Pilate - *The Wild Goose Chase* (1975), as Le directeur de la banque - *Alouqa or the Comedy of the Dead* (1975), as Jean Croix - *The Night Caller* (1975), as Divisional commissioner Sabin - *An Invitation to the Hunt* (1974), as Marquis of La Rocherie - *The Time of the Beginning* (1974), as Direttore clinica / Sottocapo - *I'm Losing My Temper* (1974), as Headmaster - *Cry of the Heart* (1974), as M. Bunkermann - *Successive Slidings of Pleasure* (1974), as The Priest - *My Name Is Nobody* (1973), as Sullivan - *The Day of the Jackal* (1973), as Victor Wolenski — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/the-day-of-the-jackal.md) - *The Inheritor* (1973), as Mgr. Schneider - *The Beguines* (1972), as René - *Mandrin* (1972), series, as Robert de Cazes - *La Nuit bulgare* (1972), Actor - *HPW ou Anatomie d'un faussaire* (1971), as Bjorn - *Troubleshooters* (1971), as Homme de Varèse - *Promise at Dawn* (1970), as Igor Igorevitch - *The Woman in White* (1970), series, as Frédéric Fairlie - *Safety Catch* (1970), as Butler - *Don't Take God's Children for Wild Geese* (1968), as A henchman of Charles (uncredited) - *Baal's Companions* (1968), series, as M. De Plassans - *Je T'Aime, Je T'Aime* (1968), as Un responsable d'édition - *Manon 70* (1968), Actor - *The Invention of Morel* (1967), as Stoewer - *Graf Yoster gibt sich die Ehre* (1967), series, as Gaston - *The Nun* (1967), as Monsieur Hébert - *Les filous* (1967), Actor - *Soldier Martin* (1966), as Monnier - *The Battle of Algiers* (1966), as Colonel Philippe Mathieu — Fi1m 93, [page](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers.md) - *Your Turn, Darling* (1963), Actor - *Les Culottes rouges* (1962), as Un homme de la troupe (uncredited) - *Gustave Moreau* (1962), as Narrator - *Paris Belongs to Us* (1961), Actor - *Fortunate* (1960), as faux croque-mort - *Forgotten Stones* (1952), Actor - *Cecile Is Dead* (1944), as Le garçon d'étage (uncredited) ## Gallery - ![Jean Martin](https://film.one/media/person/60037/gallery-dd615a8ec268.png) Jean Martin — Giuseppe Ruzzolini, Armando Nannuzzi, Tonino Valerii / Rafran Cinematografica, Imp.Ex.Ci., Alcinter, Rialto Film., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/JeanMartin-Italie-1973.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Jean Martin](https://film.one/media/person/60037/gallery-83f7ec9048e2.jpg) Jean Martin — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/jean-martin