Hamidou Benmessaoud (Arabic: حميدو بنمسعود; 2 August 1935 – 19 September 2013), best known as Amidou, was a Moroccan-French film, television, and stage actor.^{[citation needed]}

Born in Rabat, at 17 Amidou moved to Paris to attend the CNSAD. In 1968 he made his debut on stage, in Jean Genet's Les paravents.^[1]

Amidou was best known for his association with director Claude Lelouch, with whom he shot eleven films, including Lelouch's film debut Le propre de l'homme (1960).^[2] He made his debut in a Moroccan film in 1969, starring in Soleil de printemps directed by Latif Lahlou.^[1] His career included roles in Spaghetti Westerns like Buddy Goes West and several American productions, including William Friedkin's Sorcerer, John Frankenheimer's Ronin and John Huston's Escape to Victory.^[2]

In 1969, Amidou was awarded best actor at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival for his role in Life Love Death by Claude Lelouch,^[3] and later won best actor awards at the Cairo Film Festival (for Pursuit by Leila Triquie) and at the Tangier Film Festival (for Rachid Boutounes's Here and There).^[2] In 2005 he received, from the hands of Martin Scorsese, a Lifetime Career Award at the International Film Festival of Marrakech.^[3] He was also the first Moroccan actor to have won an acting award at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art.^[2]

Amidou died on 19 September 2013 in Paris, France, from an undisclosed illness.^[2]