# Michael Sarrazin
**Michael Sarrazin** (birth name Jacques Michel Andre Sarrazin; 22 May 1940 – 17 April 2011) was a Canadian actor best known for playing the drifter Robert opposite [Jane Fonda](https://www.edgepedia.org/jane-fonda) in [Sydney Pollack](https://www.edgepedia.org/sydney-pollack)'s *They Shoot Horses, Don't They?* (1969). He worked in Hollywood films from 1967 to the late 1970s, then largely in Canadian productions and television, and died of cancer in Montreal at age 70.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0765546/bio/) • [2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/michael-sarrazin-film-and-tv-actor-four-decades)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | 22 May 1940, Quebec City; 17 April 2011, Montreal, of cancer, aged 70[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0765546/bio/) |
| Birth name | Jacques Michel Andre Sarrazin[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0765546/bio/) |
| Studio contract | Signed by Universal in 1965 after work for the National Film Board of Canada; one of the last actors to come up through the old studio system[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0765546/bio/) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/apr/22/michael-sarrazin-obituary) |
| Signature role | Robert Syverton in *They Shoot Horses, Don't They?* (1969); the film received nine Oscar nominations[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/michael-sarrazin-film-and-tv-actor-four-decades) • [4](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/111877) |
| Award recognition | Golden Globe nomination as most promising newcomer for *The Sweet Ride* (1968)[5](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/michael-sarrazin-actor-best-known-for-playing-opposite-jane-fonda-in-lsquo-they-shoot-horses-don-rsquo-t-they-rsquo-2269972.html) |
| Television highlight | The Creature in *Frankenstein: The True Story* (1973), with James Mason, John Gielgud, and Ralph Richardson[5](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/michael-sarrazin-actor-best-known-for-playing-opposite-jane-fonda-in-lsquo-they-shoot-horses-don-rsquo-t-they-rsquo-2269972.html) |
| Final credit | The television movie *The Christmas Choir* (2008)[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/michael-sarrazin-film-and-tv-actor-four-decades) |
## Early life and training
Sarrazin was born in [Quebec City](https://www.edgepedia.org/quebec-city) and grew up in Montreal, where his father practiced law.[6](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/actor-michael-sarrazin-dies-at-70/2011/04/18/AF2C9H7D_story.html) He attended eight different schools before dropping out, taking an interest mainly in the acting opportunities the schools offered.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0765546/bio/) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/apr/22/michael-sarrazin-obituary) As a teenager he worked at a Toronto theater, on television, and for the [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation](https://www.edgepedia.org/canadian-broadcasting-corporation), and he studied acting at the [Actors Studio](https://www.edgepedia.org/actors-studio) in New York.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0765546/bio/) While playing parts in historical documentary shorts for the National Film Board of Canada, he was noticed by Universal and signed to a contract in 1965; he later described the $300-a-week deal as being "virtually indentured".[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0765546/bio/) • [6](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/actor-michael-sarrazin-dies-at-70/2011/04/18/AF2C9H7D_story.html)
## Hollywood career, 1967–1977
**Early roles.** After small television parts in *The Virginian* and the TV movie *The Doomsday Flight* (1966), Sarrazin made his film debut in the post-Civil War western *Gunfight in Abilene* (1967) opposite [Bobby Darin](https://www.edgepedia.org/bobby-darin), a production he recalled as shot in 14 days with [Leslie Nielsen](https://www.edgepedia.org/leslie-nielsen) as the villain.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0765546/bio/) • [6](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/actor-michael-sarrazin-dies-at-70/2011/04/18/AF2C9H7D_story.html) His second film, *The Flim-Flam Man* (1967), made the stronger impression: as a reluctant young apprentice to [George C. Scott](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-c-scott)'s traveling con man, he was hailed as a bright new star.[5](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/michael-sarrazin-actor-best-known-for-playing-opposite-jane-fonda-in-lsquo-they-shoot-horses-don-rsquo-t-they-rsquo-2269972.html)
In *The Sweet Ride* (1968) he played a Malibu surfer opposite [Jacqueline Bisset](https://www.edgepedia.org/jacqueline-bisset), with whom he began a long personal relationship; sources give differing spans for it, from 1967 to 1973 or 1974 in some listings to 14 years in obituaries.[5](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/michael-sarrazin-actor-best-known-for-playing-opposite-jane-fonda-in-lsquo-they-shoot-horses-don-rsquo-t-they-rsquo-2269972.html) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/fr/name/nm0765546/bio/) The performance brought a Golden Globe nomination for most promising newcomer.[5](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/michael-sarrazin-actor-best-known-for-playing-opposite-jane-fonda-in-lsquo-they-shoot-horses-don-rsquo-t-they-rsquo-2269972.html)
**They Shoot Horses, Don't They?** His most celebrated role came in 1969 as Robert, the ex-farmboy drifter paired with Jane Fonda's embittered Gloria in Pollack's Depression-era dance-marathon drama. The film received nine Oscar nominations, with [Gig Young](https://www.edgepedia.org/gig-young) winning for supporting actor; Sarrazin was not nominated, saying in part because Pollack cut his six-minute monologue explaining the mercy killing at the center of the story.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/michael-sarrazin-film-and-tv-actor-four-decades) • [6](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/actor-michael-sarrazin-dies-at-70/2011/04/18/AF2C9H7D_story.html) He spoke the film's title line after helping Fonda's character die, and said in 1994, "You could have paid me a dollar a week to work on that. I still get really intense when I watch it."[3](https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/apr/22/michael-sarrazin-obituary)
**The Midnight Cowboy question.** Sources disagree over how Sarrazin lost the role of [Joe Buck](https://www.edgepedia.org/joe-buck) in *Midnight Cowboy* (1969). Some report that he turned it down to appear in *In Search of Gregory* (1970); others, including the *Guardian* and the trade-press account in FilmInk, say Universal refused to lend him out or asked too much money for his services, and [Jon Voight](https://www.edgepedia.org/jon-voight) took the part.[5](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/michael-sarrazin-actor-best-known-for-playing-opposite-jane-fonda-in-lsquo-they-shoot-horses-don-rsquo-t-they-rsquo-2269972.html) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/apr/22/michael-sarrazin-obituary) • [8](https://www.filmink.com.au/not-quite-movie-stars-michael-sarrazin/)
**The 1970s.** Through the decade he played a run of sensitive, rootless leads: an anti-establishment young man imprisoned in Robert Mulligan's *The Pursuit of Happiness* (1971), [Paul Newman](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-newman)'s ostracized hippie brother in Newman's *Sometimes a Great Notion* (1971), an apprentice pickpocket to [James Coburn](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-coburn) and [Walter Pidgeon](https://www.edgepedia.org/walter-pidgeon) in *Harry in Your Pocket* (1973), and Barbra Streisand's cab-driving husband in *For Pete's Sake* (1974).[5](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/michael-sarrazin-actor-best-known-for-playing-opposite-jane-fonda-in-lsquo-they-shoot-horses-don-rsquo-t-they-rsquo-2269972.html) On television in 1973 he won strong reviews as a handsome, articulate Creature in *Frankenstein: The True Story*, scripted by Christopher Isherwood, a portrayal that departed from the stitched-together monster tradition as the character degenerated physically over the film.[5](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/michael-sarrazin-actor-best-known-for-playing-opposite-jane-fonda-in-lsquo-they-shoot-horses-don-rsquo-t-they-rsquo-2269972.html) He hosted two episodes of *Saturday Night Live* in 1975.[5](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/michael-sarrazin-actor-best-known-for-playing-opposite-jane-fonda-in-lsquo-they-shoot-horses-don-rsquo-t-they-rsquo-2269972.html)
## Later career in Canada and television
After *The Reincarnation of Peter Proud* (1975), obituaries describe his film career as in decline, with 1980s and 1990s work mostly in Canadian productions, including the memory-loss thriller *Double Negative* (1980), *Joshua Then and Now* (1985), and his brother Pierre's French-Canadian film *La Florida* (1993), in which he played lounge singer Romeo Laflamme.[5](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/michael-sarrazin-actor-best-known-for-playing-opposite-jane-fonda-in-lsquo-they-shoot-horses-don-rsquo-t-they-rsquo-2269972.html) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/apr/22/michael-sarrazin-obituary) He continued in television, appearing in *Star Trek: Deep Space Nine* (the episode "The Quickening"), *Murder, She Wrote*, and *Street Legal*, and played Harry Warner opposite Michael Caine's Harry Palmer in *Bullet to Beijing* (1995) and *Midnight in St Petersburg* (1996).[5](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/michael-sarrazin-actor-best-known-for-playing-opposite-jane-fonda-in-lsquo-they-shoot-horses-don-rsquo-t-they-rsquo-2269972.html) • [2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/michael-sarrazin-film-and-tv-actor-four-decades) His last credit was the 2008 television movie *The Christmas Choir*.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/michael-sarrazin-film-and-tv-actor-four-decades)
## Personal life and death
Sarrazin had two daughters, Catherine and Michèle, with a woman he did not marry, and later lived with Jacqueline Bisset.[7](https://www.imdb.com/fr/name/nm0765546/bio/) In 2000 he moved from the West Coast back to Montreal to be near his daughters.[5](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/michael-sarrazin-actor-best-known-for-playing-opposite-jane-fonda-in-lsquo-they-shoot-horses-don-rsquo-t-they-rsquo-2269972.html) He died of cancer on 17 April 2011 at a Montreal hospital, aged 70, and was survived by his two daughters, his brother Pierre, and his sister Enid.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0765546/bio/) • [9](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-michael-sarrazin-20110419-story.html)
## Screen persona
Obituaries consistently describe the qualities that defined his casting: a tall, lean actor with wide, soulful, sunken eyes, suited to sensitive, gently rebellious anti-heroes of the late 1960s, often drifters, apprentices, or outsiders.[5](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/michael-sarrazin-actor-best-known-for-playing-opposite-jane-fonda-in-lsquo-they-shoot-horses-don-rsquo-t-they-rsquo-2269972.html) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/apr/22/michael-sarrazin-obituary) The *Guardian* attributed his fading Hollywood profile to that boyish, flower-child persona becoming less suitable as he aged, alongside a preference for quirky films that did not draw large audiences.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/apr/22/michael-sarrazin-obituary)
## References
1. [Michael Sarrazin – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0765546/bio/)
2. [Michael Sarrazin, Film and TV Actor for Four Decades, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/michael-sarrazin-film-and-tv-actor-four-decades)
3. [Michael Sarrazin obituary, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/apr/22/michael-sarrazin-obituary)
4. [Michael Sarrazin filmography, AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/111877)
5. [Michael Sarrazin: Actor best known for playing opposite Jane Fonda in 'They Shoot Horses, Don't They?', The Independent](https://www.the-independent.com/news/obituaries/michael-sarrazin-actor-best-known-for-playing-opposite-jane-fonda-in-lsquo-they-shoot-horses-don-rsquo-t-they-rsquo-2269972.html)
6. [Actor Michael Sarrazin dies at 70, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/actor-michael-sarrazin-dies-at-70/2011/04/18/AF2C9H7D_story.html)
7. [Michael Sarrazin – Biographie, IMDb (French)](https://www.imdb.com/fr/name/nm0765546/bio/)
8. [Not Quite Movie Stars: Michael Sarrazin, FilmInk](https://www.filmink.com.au/not-quite-movie-stars-michael-sarrazin/)
9. [Michael Sarrazin dies at 70, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-michael-sarrazin-20110419-story.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › Canadian actors › Surnames R to S*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license