Niels Arestrup Dies: ‘A Prophet’ French-Danish Actor Was 75

French-Danish actor, director and writer Niels Arestrup, known for his Cesar-winning performances in Jacques Audiard’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet, has died at his home outside Paris at the age of 75.

Arestrup’s wife, the actress, screenwriter and author Isabelle Le Nouvel announced her husband’s death on Sunday.

The actor won a record three French Césars across his career with the final one being Bertrand Tavernier’s political satire The French Minister (Quai d’Orsay).

Arestrup was born to French mother, from Brittany, and a Danish father and grew up in humble conditions in Paris. After failing his high-school exams, he did odd jobs and then slowly moved into TV and drama.

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In A Prophet, Arestrup played ruthless Corsican mobster César Luciani, who enlists the protagonist Malik (Tahar Rahim), introducing him to a life of crime in return for his protection.

Further highlights of Arestrup’s career included Volker Schlöndorff ‘s Diplomacy, in which he played General Dietrich von Choltitz, the real-life German military governor of occupied Paris in WWII, opposite André Dussollier as Swedish consul-general Raoul Nordling, as he tried to save the city from destruction.

More recently, Arestrup has appeared in a number of high-profile French TV dramas, Ziad Doueiri’s Baron Noir and Les Papillons Noirs.

He also had a prolific career theatre career, his first love, with his most recent credits including a production of John Logan’s play Red about the artist Rothko, for which he won a Molière award for Best Actor in 2019.