Robert Hossein, alias Robert Aminulla Huseinov

Anna Demchenko, exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

The “People’s Director of the Republic”, whose name provided the basis for such a phenomenon of scenography as “Hosseinography”, a well-known actor in France and Russia, who played Jeoffrey de Peyrac in classic films about Angelica… Robert Hossein is one of the iconic figures of French theatre and cinema. Despite his French name, the world star originates from a modest family of Russian emigrants of the first wave.

Robert Hossein, alias Robert Aminulla Huseinov, was born to a family of emigrants from the Russian Empire in Paris on December 30, 1927. His father Aminulla was born to an Azerbaijani family in Samarkand. As he was talented in music, the Turkestan authorities sent him to study in Moscow, where he was baptized and took a new name, Andrew. Later, the promising young musician went to Berlin. He never returned either to Russia or Turkestan. The First World War began, and the educational trip turned into emigration. To earn money he played at parties, restaurants and bars. He wasn’t in demand as a composer, but the musician didn’t lose optimism. Robert Hossein remembers that his father used to say: “The first 50 years of life are the most difficult, then you get used to it.”

Hossein’s mother, Anna Minevskaya, was born in Kiev and was raised in St. Petersburg. Her family were wealthy Jews. Her father owned a bank and a commercial apartment building in the capital. As he was a kind person, he let poor students live in the apartment building for free. Many of the students were his friends. Ahead of the First World War two of them suddenly disappeared. After the revolution Minevsky was taken for an interrogation, which was conducted by one of his former lodgers. The man was a fair person and issued foreign passports to the family of Minevsky, and they emigrated. Anna met her future husband in Germany.

Anna Minevskaya worked in a Russian theater, where she earned almost nothing. So the young family hardly made both ends meet. Despite poverty, she always believed in her husband’s talent and supported him. Many emigrants chose new low-qualified professions. Drivers and boarding house keepers were the most popular professions. But Huseinov couldn’t live without music.

Their son Robert was born in a cheap hotel. At first he didn’t speak French, as his family spoke Russian only, preserving the native language. Later, Robert was sent to study in a school. When it was time to pay, he was taken to another school. This was repeated a dozen times. Each school had its own rules. Robert dreamed about a real home which would be full of relatives. The boy had no friends in his schools. He often missed classes; he climbed on trees and watched people from above.

For 15 years the family lived in a poor district in a garret. A bathroom was situated on the second floor, and the emigrants had to go downstairs to reach it (there were 5 floors in the building). There were only a board and two beds in their room.

When Robert decided to be an actor when he was 15, his parents were happy, as from now on he could help his family. The boy was studying at the “Old Dovecote" drama studio. When he was 18, he changed his name from Huseinov to the easy-to-remember Hossein.

At first Hossein wasn’t popular. He acted in the Grand Guignol Theater and directed plays. These early years formed him as a professional; he preferred theater to cinema, despite his success on the screen.

To be continued