André Wilms (1947-2022) was an acclaimed French actor, known for his melancholic face and versatile stage presence, moving adeptly between avant-garde theater and art-house cinema. Although famous in France for his role in the cult comedy Life Is a Long Quiet River (1988), his international renown is inextricably linked to his collaboration with Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki. Wilms was Kaurismäki's favored actor, embodying figures of sorrowful humanity in masterpieces like La Vie de bohème (1992), which earned him a European Film Award, the memorable protagonist shoeshiner Marcel Marx in Le Havre (2011), and The Other Side of Hope (2017). His European career also included roles in films such as Agnieszka Holland's Europa Europa (1990) and, among his last, Maigret (2022).