He starred opposite Louis de Funes in Oscar: The Death of Belgian Comedian Roger Van Hool.

Roger van Hull, the Belgian stage, television and film actor known to fans of Louis de Funes for playing his driver Oscar in the famous film of the same name, died on Monday at the age of 82 after complications from a long illness.

Born in Antwerp in 1940, Roger van Hull studied in his native Belgium in Nivelles and learned the acting profession with the theater company Nederlands Kamertoneel before moving to Paris.

After continuing to play board games, he began a career in cinema and was offered a face-to-face meeting with Louis de Funes (in one of the latter’s best films according to the audience) for his first feature film. Even if his role is very secondary, he thus portrays Oscar, the character who lends his name to Edouard Molinaro’s unforgettable film, the ex-chauffeur of the very annoyed Bertrand Barnier (played by de Funes), whose daughter he hopes to marry.

After this first role, Roger van Hull continued his acting career in France and Belgium, between theater stages and film and television. In particular, he collaborated several times with the Belgian director Andre Delvos, for example in Rendez-vous à Bray.

On the French side, we see him in front of Alain Cavalier’s camera and opposite Catherine Deneuve in La Chamade, with François Truffaut (La Femme d’à Côté), with Roger Vadim (in the mini-series La Nouvelle Tribu), or on the poster of Etienne Chatilez’s memorable Tanguy.

More recently we have been able to see him in L’Odyssée by Jérôme Salle, La Vérité by Hirokazu Kore-eda or the comedy Adorables by Solange Cicurelli.

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