Philippe Leroy has died: the actor was 93 years old
The French actor, one of the best known in Italy, passed away after a long illness
ROME – Philippe Leroy, one of the best-known French actors in Italy, has passed away after a long illness. For the Italian small screen audience, his name remains linked to the interpretation of Yanez de Gomera in the drama ‘Sandokan’ (1976), to that of Leonardo da Vinci in ‘The Life of Leonardo da Vinci’ (1971) and the more recent one of the Bishop in the ‘Don Matteo‘ series, alongside Terence Hill.
Born in France in 1930, Leroy belonged to an aristocratic family. At 17, however, the title of marquis was too small for him and in 1947 he decided to enlist as a cabin boy on an ocean liner en route to New York and, once disembarked, he remained in the United States for a year. In 1953 he returned to Europe and joined the French army fighting in Indochina as a second lieutenant in the 2e Régiment étranger de parachutistes of the Foreign Legion. In 1958, as a reserve paratrooper lieutenant, he participated in the Algerian war.
Two years after the turning point. In 1960, thanks to a relative who opened the door to cinema for him, he made his debut as an actor in Jacques Becker’s dramatic-minimalist masterpiece The Hole. Other interpretations followed in France, but it was in Italy that he worked mainly.