Didier Sandre
Born: 1946-08-17 in Paris, France
Known For: Acting
Biography
Didier Maffre, known professionally as Didier Sandre, is a French actor and stage director born in Paris on 17 August 1946 and appointed sociétaire of the Comédie‑Française in 2020. He made his debut in 1968 in Paul Claudel’s L’Échange and, from the 1970s onward, became a prominent figure in public theatre, collaborating with major directors such as Catherine Dasté, Bernard Sobel, Jorge Lavelli, Patrice Chéreau, Giorgio Strehler, Luc Bondy, and Antoine Vitez. Alongside this, he has appeared regularly in private‑theatre productions, including works by Claudel, Anouilh, Rampal, and Margulies. His stage career includes notable performances in Bérénice (directed by Lambert Wilson), Le Laboureur de Bohême (Christian Schiaretti), and Monsieur chasse! by Feydeau. He joined the Comédie‑Française in 2013 and became a full member in 2020. Sandre has also worked extensively in film and television, appearing in Pascale Ferran’s Petits Arrangements avec les morts, Éric Rohmer’s Autumn Tale, Abraham Segal’s Le Mystère Paul, and Mikhaël Hers’s Memory Lane. On television, he has acted in numerous dramas, including Saint‑Germain ou la Négociation, Le Sang noir, and notably portrayed Louis XIV in Nina Companeez’s L’Allée du Roi and the Baron de Charlus in her adaptation of In Search of Lost Time. A frequent narrator in concert settings, he has performed in major repertoire works by Stravinsky, Debussy, Beethoven, Honegger, Haydn, Prokofiev, Grieg, Poulenc, and others, collaborating with leading orchestras, conductors such as Pierre Boulez and Myung‑Whun Chung, and renowned soloists including Alexandre Tharaud, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, and Emmanuelle Bertrand.
Filmography
2026
- Le Cid as Don Diègue, père de don Rodrigue
2025
- Le Soulier de Satin as Don Pélage/Le second chancelier
2023
- Icon of French Cinema as Frédéric
2022
- The Passengers of the Night as Jean
- The Black Pharaoh, the Savage and the Princess as Amon / Duc et Chambellan (voice)
2021
- François Mitterrand & Anne Pingeot: Pieces of a Love Story as Narrator (voice)
2020
- Frank Capra, il était une fois l'Amérique as Narrator
2019
- An Officer and a Spy as General Boisdeffre
- Électre / Oreste as Tyndare
2018
- An Impossible Love as Philippe's Father
- Le Petit-Maître Corrigé as Le Comte, père d'Hortense
- Roméo et Juliette as Capulet
2017
- Cyrano de Bergerac as de Guiche
- Les Fourberies de Scapin as Géronte
2016
- Les Damnés as Joachim von Essenbeck
2015
- Les années perdues as Daniel Launey
- The Fabulous History of Eau de Cologne as Narrator (voice)
2014
- Not My Type as Le père de Clément
2013
- Under the Rainbow as Guillaume Casseul
2011
- À la recherche du temps perdu as Le Baron de Charlus
2010
- Memory Lane as François
2009
- Sous un autre jour as Martin
- Montparnasse as Serge
2007
2006
- Lovers of the Café Flore as Georges de Beauvoir
- Hell as Le père de Hell
2003
- Saint-Germain ou La négociation as M. de Méylines
- The Legend of Princess Parva as Parva's father (voice)
2002
- L'enfant éternel as Richard
2001
- Origins of Life as Narrator (voice)
1998
- A Tale of Autumn as Étienne
- Passion interdite as Richard
- La femme d'un seul homme as Richard
1996
- L'Allée du roi as Louis XIV
- L'allée du Roi (Version courte) as Louis XIV
1994
- Coming to Terms with the Dead as Vincent
1993
- Boulevard des hirondelles as Pascal Capeau
- Mensonge as Charles Melville
1992
- Turbulences as Julien
1989
- Les Grandes Familles as Gabriel De Voos
- Manon Roland as Robespierre
1987
- Le Soulier de Satin as Don Rodrigue
1986
- The Woman of My Life as Xavier
1985
- Hell Train as Dalbret
1983
- Shadow Dance as Gérard
- Richelieu ou La journée des dupes as Cardinal de Richelieu
1981
- Peer Gynt as Quatrième jeune homme / Le troll de cour / Herr Von Eberkopf / Monsieur Plume / Un homme âgé / Le maigre