Une vie au service de la cause nationale et de la culture algérienne

A life at the service of the national cause and Algerian culture

Evocation of the course of Yahia Benmabrouk

Yahia Benmabrouk, the creative actor known by the famous artist’s name of “the apprentice”, had a full artistic career, marked by his commitment and his militancy with highly creative forms which have earned him to be immortalized in the history of Algerian art.
Born in Algiers on March 30, 1928, Yahia Benmabrouk went on stage for the first time in 1940 following a happy coincidence, where he was then called to the rescue by the theater man, trainer and manager of the Algerian theatrical troop, Mustapha Kateb, replacing a young actor.
It is also important to underline the militant journey of this great figure in Algerian theater and cinema which has devoted its talent as an artist in the service of the national cause and Algerian culture.
Victim of an attack perpetrated in 1956 by French extremists, Yahia Benmabrouk was forced to stop her artistic activities, to return two years later, in 1958 and participate, as a founding member in the creation of the artistic troupe of the National Liberation Front led by Mustapha Kateb.
Founded in Tunisia in 1958, the FLN troop had set itself the main mission of promoting the Algerian revolution abroad, through a committed collective of artists, creators and intellectuals in various fields of the scene arts which presented several of its performance in several capitals of the world. After independence, Yahia Benmabrouk had an intense activity at the Algerian national theater, chaining roles in different pieces, like the very first, “Hassan Terro” (1963), then, “actor in spite of himself”, “a red rose for me”, “El Ghoula”, “Ma Yenfaâ Ghir Essah” or, “Es’soltane el Hayer”.
The late has also played in “Les Concierges” (1970), alongside a large number of figures from the Algerian theater, like the late Sid Ali Kouirat, Fatiha Berber and Ammar Marouf, to be distributed two years later, in “L’Homme aux Sandales de Rubber” by Kateb Yacine, thus becoming the unavoidable comedian in the unit Until 1983 where he appeared in “Juha Baâ H’Marou”.
Large figure of the post -independence theater with, among others, Rouiched, Allel El Mohib, Keltoum, Sid Ali Kouiret, Mustapha Kateb and Farida Saboundji, Yahia Ben Mabrouk had participated in almost all the national theatrical demonstrations and took part in many festivals in Tunisia. In the 7th art and on television, his beginnings were in 1967, with the late Hadj Abderrahmane with whom he had formed the anthological duo, “the inspector Tahar and the apprentice”, gratifying for several years the public of moviegoers and the viewers of a series of comic films which will have great success.
Among the most famous films rendered by this duo, where Yahia Benmabrouk plays the role of “the apprentice” (the assistant inspector) with his offbeat and spontaneous humorous character, “the Inspector Tahar” (1967) and “Les Vacances by Inspector Tahar” by Moussa Haddad (1972), which will have a great success “The Inspector Taher or “Le Chat” (1978).
Yahia Benmabrouk was also distributed in great works like the historic film “Chronicles of the Broves years” (1975) by Mohamed Lakhdar Hamina, Palme d’Or in 1975 at the Cannes Film Festival, which recounts the suffering of Algerians during the 1940s / 1950s and their difficult social condition under the yoke of French colonialism.
After the death of his companion Hadj Abderrahmane in 1981, “the apprentice” had almost completely withdrew from the artistic scene, marking his return to the cinema in “Le Clandestin” (1989) by Benamar Bakhti, who was a great success with the public.
In the 1990s, the late also participated in a certain number of cinematographic and television works, including “Cheb” (1991) by Rachid Bouchareb, “Hafila Tassir” (1993) and “Les Vacances de l’Apprentice” (1999).
Yahia Benmabrouk died on October 9, 2004, at the age of 76.
RC