--- name: "Martin LaSalle" canonical: "https://film.one/person/martin-lasalle" fi1m_id: "martin-lasalle" imdb_id: "nm0489425" tmdb_id: 10355 wikidata_id: "Q3295491" roles: ["Actor"] born: "19 January 1935" died: "17 October 2018" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 82 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-25T08:39:09.100240+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." --- # Martin LaSalle ## Identity Martin LaSalle - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/martin-lasalle - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** martin-lasalle - **IMDb ID:** nm0489425 - **TMDB ID:** 10355 - **Wikidata ID:** Q3295491 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_LaSalle, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3295491, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0489425/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/10355 Actor. Born 19 January 1935 in France. Died 17 October 2018. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 19 January 1935, France - **Died:** 17 October 2018 - **Active:** 1959–1982 - **Also known as:** Martín Lasalle, Martin Lasalle , Martin La Salle - **Average Fi1m score:** 82, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1950s 84 (1), 1980s 80 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_LaSalle, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3295491, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0489425/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/10355 ## Fi1m on Martin LaSalle > Martin LaSalle's restraint in *Pickpocket* makes a compulsive thief absorbing without making him charming. We admire the precision, with a reservation: sometimes he keeps us further from Michel than the film needs. In *Pickpocket* (1959), Martin LaSalle gives Michel little of the charm that can make a screen thief comfortable company. We watch him work without being encouraged to mistake skill for decency. It is a performance we recommend for precisely that lack of reassurance. LaSalle takes Michel's compulsion seriously and does not soften it for our benefit. Robert Bresson's patient attention to stealing gives this reserved performance its grip. Bresson cast LaSalle as a non-professional, drawn to an unmannered presence and expressive eyes and hands. We felt slightly embarrassed by our fascination with the thefts in *Pickpocket*, because the patient scrutiny made an ugly habit so absorbing. The reserve is effective until it starts to make the people around Michel seem less important than the next theft. There are stretches when we want more feeling from LaSalle, especially once the physical detail has made us watch so closely. That is a substantial reservation about an otherwise compelling performance. The later career is a useful correction to the idea of LaSalle as simply Bresson's discovery. He worked extensively in Mexican cinema, often in supporting parts, while also appearing in international productions. He played Brother Felipe in Juan López Moctezuma's horror film *Alucarda* (1977), and the consular official Paris in Costa-Gavras's *Missing* (1982). *Under Fire* (1983) cast him as Commandante Cinco, another part involving authority. Officials, commanders and religious figures gave that later work a recurring shape across otherwise different kinds of film. His reputation nevertheless rests chiefly on *Pickpocket*, rather than on the long career that followed. The later credits should discourage us from treating him as a non-professional who merely passed through cinema. What Bresson found in him was worth looking at: a man whose behaviour could absorb us without the usual encouragement to like him. Start with *Pickpocket*, and allow it the close attention LaSalle's reserve requires. ## Biography Martin LaSalle (19 January 1935 – 17 October 2018) was a French-Uruguayan actor. He made his screen debut in the lead role of Michel in Robert Bresson's *Pickpocket* (1959). LaSalle subsequently appeared in more than seventy films and television productions. His credits include *Alucarda* (1977), *The Mansion of Madness* (1973), *The Dogs of War* (1980), *Missing* (1982), *Under Fire* (1983) and *Five Days Without Nora* (2008). *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Missing* (1982), Fi1m 80, as Paris — [page](https://film.one/film/missing-1982.md) - *Pickpocket* (1959), Fi1m 84, as Michel — [page](https://film.one/film/pickpocket.md) ## Complete filmography (61) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Luisa's Dream* (2009), Actor - *Nora's Will* (2008), as Rabbi Kolatch - *Ópera* (2008), Actor - *My Mexican Shivah* (2007), as Isaac Fischer - *Contratiempo* (2003), Actor - *Otaola o la república del exilio* (2000), Actor - *Pilgrim* (2000), as Doc Anderson - *Second Century* (1999), Actor - *The Other Conquest* (1999), as Fraile Superior - *Avalón (Paleativo)* (1995), Actor - *Hasta Morir* (1994), Actor - *Acapulco H.E.A.T.* (1993), series, as French Statesman - *Death and the Compass* (1992), as Dr. Yarmolinsky - *The Southern Cross* (1992), Actor - *Nightlife* (1989), as Old Man - *Romero* (1989), as Bishop Rivera y Damas - *Goitia: A God for Himself* (1989), as Padre de Goitia - *The Penitent* (1988), as Miguel - *Sor Juana Inez de la cruz* (1988), Actor - *Hot Pursuit* (1987), as Prisoner - *Noche de Calífas* (1987), Actor - *Murder in Three Acts* (1986), as Doctor - *Violent Stories* (1985), Actor - *Alamo Bay* (1985), as Luis - *El diablo y la dama* (1984), Actor - *Samson and Delilah* (1984), as Governor of Ekron - *Desires* (1983), Actor - *Todo un hombre* (1983), as Doctor - *Under Fire* (1983), as Commandante Cinco - *God's Crooked Lines* (1983), as Dr. Dorantes / García del Olmo - *Aquel famoso Remington* (1982), Actor - *Red Bells Part I: Mexico in Flames* (1982), Actor - *Sorceress* (1982), as Krona - *Missing* (1982), as Paris — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/missing-1982.md) - *Seduction* (1981), Actor - *'Ora sí ¡tenemos que ganar!* (1981), Actor - *The Dogs of War* (1980), as Customs Officer - *Mystery* (1980), as Invitado 1 - *Caboblanco* (1980), as Aparicio - *Women's Things* (1979), Actor - *The Bees* (1978), as Saudi Arabia - United Nations - *Cananea* (1978), as Mr. Curtis - *The Year of the Plague* (1978), as Diplomatic - *Pubertinaje* (1978), Actor - *Alucarda* (1977), as Brother Felipe - *Celestina* (1976), Actor - *El infierno tan temido* (1975), Actor - *South Southeast: 2604* (1974), Actor - *Omen* (1974), as Anciano - *The Holy Inquisition* (1974), as Díaz Márquez - *Those Years* (1974), as Duque de Morey - *The Master of Ballantrae* (1974), as Galarza - *The Mansion of Madness* (1973), as Julien Couvier - *Queen Doll* (1972), as Alfredo - *Hardcase* (1972), as Luis Camacho - *The Gates of Paradise* (1971), Actor - *Exorcismos* (1970), Actor - *Acteón* (1967), as Acteón - *Love with a stranger* (1966), Actor - *O.K. End Here* (1963), Actor - *Pickpocket* (1959), as Michel — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/pickpocket.md) --- © 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/martin-lasalle