French actor, croquet champ Marsac dies

OAKMONT, Calif., June 6 (UPI) -- Maurice Marsac, a French character actor often cast as a haughty waiter who also was a ranked croquet champion, died in a California care facility at age 92.

Marsac's death on May 6 of cardiac arrest came less than three weeks after Melanie, his wife of 55 years, died at the couple's Oakmont, Calif., home, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

After his debut in "Paris After Dark," Marsac appeared in more than 150 films and television shows. In 1979's "The Jerk" with Steve Martin, Marsac portrayed the waiter who deflected Martin's complaints about snails covering his order of escargots.

His last role was as a maitre d' in the 1987 film "Dragnet."

Off-screen, Marsac played croquet, and was a resident pro at two Newport Beach, Calif., croquet courts in 1989.

Marsac and his wife moved to Oakmont in the 1990s to take advantage of Northern California's croquet culture.

The Marsacs were part of an elite group invited to most croquet tournaments in the United States, said Bob Alman, founding editor of Croquet World Online Magazine. Marsac, born in La Croix, France, was once among the top 5 percent of croquet players.