ROLAND LESAFFRE was a French actor born on this date. He was born in the elevator of the hospital of Clermont-Ferrand. After an adventurous youth, he joined the WWII French Resistance and then the marines and made the acquaintance of actor Jean Gabin. He was a favorite actor and lover of Director Marcel Carne. He played a large number of secondary roles, recurrently with a number of renowned directors (Carne, Sacha Guitry, Alfred Hitchcock, Henry Decoin , etc.). He won awards for his role in L’Air de Paris, alongside Areletty. He retired from the screen in the 1970s .

He had a romantic relationship with Marcel Carné, although he himself qualified this: he believed that the relationship between the filmmaker was “homosensuality” and not homosexuality. He published his autobiography under the title Mataf  (1991). He was married from 1956 to 1962 with actress Yoko Tani, who he met in 1955 at Cannes, and then with actress Tania Busselier.

The central boulevard of Clichy in  Paris, between Calaincourt Street and the Place Blanche was named in his honor in 2014, Promenade Roland-Lesaffre.