Pierre Renoir (March 21, 1885 – March 11, 1952) was a French stage and film actor. He was the son of the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and elder brother of the film director Jean Renoir. He is also noted for being the first actor to play Georges Simenon's character Inspector Jules Maigret in Night at the Crossroads, directed by his brother.

Life and career

Pierre Renoir was born on March 21, 1885, in Paris, at 18 rue Houdon, about a hundred meters from place Pigalle, to painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Aline Charigot. He was married to actress Véra Sergine from 1914 to 1925. For his best remembered role, as Jėricho the ragman in Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis, 1945), he was cast at short notice to replace the collaborator Robert Le Vigan; Jėricho's scenes had to be reshot after Le Vigan fled. Renoir was briefly the director of the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris, taking over after the death of Louis Jouvet in 1951. Pierre Renoir's son was the cinematographer Claude Renoir (1913–93) —not to be confused with Pierre's brother Claude Renoir, known as 'Coco' (1901–69).

Selected filmography