Didier Sandre
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.
Known For
Credits
- 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 Black Pharaoh, the Savage and the Princess as Amon / Duc et Chambellan (voice)
- 2022 · The Passengers of the Night as Jean
- 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
- 2019 · Électre / Oreste as Tyndare
- 2018 · Roméo et Juliette as Capulet
- 2018 · An Impossible Love as Philippe's Father
- 2018 · Le Petit-Maître Corrigé as Le Comte, père d'Hortense
- 2017 · Les Fourberies de Scapin as Géronte
- 2017 · Cyrano de Bergerac as de Guiche
- 2016 · Les Damnés as Joachim von Essenbeck
- 2015 · Les années perdues as Daniel Launey
- 2015 · 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
- 2012 · A.L.F. as Le psychiatre
- 2012 · Photo as Uriel
- 2012 · One Night as Le procureur Lacourt
- 2011 · À la recherche du temps perdu as Le Baron de Charlus
- 2010 · Memory Lane as François
- 2009 · Sous un autre jour as Martin
- 2009 · Montparnasse as Serge
- 2007 · Moi, Louis enfant de la mine - Courrières 1906 as Ricq
- 2006 · Hell as Le père de Hell
- 2006 · Lovers of the Café Flore as Georges de Beauvoir
- 2003 · Saint-Germain ou La négociation as M. de Méylines
- 2003 · The Legend of Princess Parva as Parva's father (voice)
- 2002 · L'enfant éternel as Richard
- 2001 · Origins of Life as Narrator (voice)
- 1998 · Passion interdite as Richard
- 1998 · A Tale of Autumn as Étienne
- 1998 · La femme d'un seul homme as Richard
- 1996 · L'Allée du roi as Louis XIV
- 1994 · Coming to Terms with the Dead as Vincent
- 1993 · Mensonge as Charles Melville
- 1993 · Boulevard des hirondelles as Pascal Capeau
- 1992 · Turbulences as Julien
- 1989 · Manon Roland as Robespierre
- 1989 · Les Grandes Familles as Gabriel De Voos
- 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
- 1983 · 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