Michel Blanc is dead: the Splendid actor was 72 years old

The famous Jean-Claude Dusse of Les Bronzés died in the night from Thursday to Friday in hospital.

Paris Match announces the disappearance of Michel Blancon October 4, at the age of 72. Tragic news confirmed by those close to him, the editorial team then writing: “During the night, his friend and partner in the legendary Splendid troupe, Gérard Jugnot, published a message on Instagram in which he wrote: 'Fuck Michel… What did you do to us…'”

This magazine had brought together the entire Splendid troupe earlier in the year to celebrate their 50th anniversary, and if there was no question of them returning for a fourth installment of the Tannedthe actor, screenwriter and director was enthusiastic about the idea of ​​soon reforming the troupe: “Doing things together, yes, but not The tanned ones. We no longer know how to do this humor. It was almost fifty years ago, the world has moved on.”

The Bronzed 4? “That would be going against the wall,” insists Michel Blanc

His role as Jean-Claude Dusse in this humorous trilogy made him very popular in the late 1970s, then the public found him in other successful films, from I find you very beautiful has Grandpa resists, passing through Come to my place I live with a friend, My wife's name is come back, Walk in the shade, Gross Fatigue, Kiss whoever you want, The State Exercise… In total, he starred in 23 million-selling films at the French box office during his career.

Thierry Lhermitte, Christian Clavier and Gérard Jugnot and Michel Blanc met at the Pasteur high school, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, and they founded together in the 1970s the Splendid troupe, a collective of authors/actors, named after the Café -theater in which they performed their plays. Josiane Balasko, Claire Magnin and Marie-Anne Chazel will later join the troupe. The small group first became known thanks to the play Santa Claus is trashand they film in parallel in the cinema, Michel Blanc for example multiplying small roles in films by Gérard Pirès (Watch your eyes, The funeral directors' computer), Bertrand Tavernier (Let the party begin, spoiled children), Claude Miller (The Best Way to Walk) or Coluche (You will not have Alsace and Lorraine) throughout this decade. Until the release of Tannedby Patrice Leconte, in 1978, which would enjoy great success in theaters (2.3 million admissions), and become more and more cult over the course of its TV rebroadcasts.

“In the Splendid gang, we didn't write our own roles but those of everyone else, confided Michel Blanc in First, returning in detail to the films that marked his career. However, quite quickly, we saw who was going to play what. And when I understood that Jean-Claude Dusse was going to be for me, I immediately saw it as an opportunity. Until then, I had not yet found my comedy job. On stage, for example, Gérard (Jugnot) made people laugh a lot more than me. (…) With this role, I found my laugh and I actually developed it in Patrice. Until I write Walk in the shadowmy first film as a director, which I knew would end my “career” café-theatre.”

After this hit, the whole troupe was overwhelmed with offers, and Michel Blanc obtained more substantial roles. In 1979, he played Javert's deputy in The Face of the Other signed Pierre Tchernia, then Marcel Dupin in Nothing is going well anymore by Jean-Michel Ribes or Bertin in the film by Jeanne Moreau, The Teenage Girl. But he still could not conclude, in 1979, in Tanned people go skiingof which this time he does not participate in the scenario.

“I found it vulgar to write a sequel to Les Bronzés, he will tell us about this sequel. So I didn't participate in what would turn out to be the better of the two films! (laughs)”

Michel Blanc's particular physique and acting talent also attracted the attention of director Claude Chabrol who called on him to play Corentin Calvez in The Horse of Pride in 1980. Patrice Leconte never tired of their collaboration and gave him the role of Guy in Come to my place I live with a friendthat of Bernard in My wife's name is come back and Leroux in Move around, there's nothing to see (1983). The hit piece Santa Claus is trash was adapted for the cinema in 1982, and of course, Michel Blanc was returned to his role.

The actor puts on the cassock of the priest in the film Grandpa resistswhich Jean-Marie Poiré produced in 1983. Then follows Walk in the shadow (1984), which he directed and for which he wrote the screenplay.

When we asked him what pushed him to go behind the camera, Michel Blanc told us:

“I wrote with Patrice Come to my house, I'm staying with a friend And My wife's name is come back. And it was he who pushed me to realize Walk in the shadowwhich I had the idea for and which I proposed to him… so that he could make it. At the time, I was taken aback but he managed to convince me. He told me to hire a good first assistant and a great technical advisor, in this case Patrick Dewolf with whom I wrote the structure of the story.”

Walk in the shadow attracts more than 6 million spectators in France, immediately establishing Michel Blanc as a writer-director who counts.

Michel Blanc: these 80s that changed everything

In 1986, Evening wearby Bertrand Blier, won him the prize for best actor at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. By his own admission, this film would turn his career upside down:

“I thought Bertrand didn't like me. In the 70s, he had me try out for a beer commercial. And since he neither hired me nor offered me a small role in The waltzers that he filmed afterwards and where Jugnot and Lhermitte appeared, I was convinced that he did not appreciate my acting. Without having imagined that my physique did not spontaneously correspond to that of the bon vivant, beer lover… And then, years later, at the beginning of 1985, at the César luncheon – where I was nominated for first film for Walk in the shadow and him for the scenario of Our story -, he comes to see me and says: “there, I’m making a film with Depardieu and Giraudeau and then I’m thinking about something for you.” Shortly after, he called me and offered to send me the script for Evening wear. And there, I learned that Bernard declined the role at the last moment. And I understand that Bertrand is offering it to me. I then ask Bertrand how he plans to do it since I don't particularly have Bernard's physique and playing style… “When you change actors, it’s better to completely change your point of view”he replies.

Watching the rushes, we were crying with laughter, all the while being afraid that when the film came out, people would spit in our faces. Particularly the homosexual environment. But the gays understood that we weren't making fun of them. We even had a rave article in Gai Pied, titled “Don’t touch the white woman.” Then we were selected for Cannes, where I received the acting prize. With The Exercise of the State, This film holds a special place in my career.”

Follow shortly after The Fugitives by Francis Veber, or: Without fear and without reproachin which his friend Gérard Jugnot made him play the role of a surgeon.

White changes register

Until then, Michel Blanc's register was essentially composed of comic characters, and the actor wanted to diversify his palette. This was achieved in 1989 when he played the obscure tailor Mr Hiretaken from the novel of the same name written by Georges Simenon, which Patrice Leconte adapted for the cinema. A role initially planned for Coluche, who died before being able to play it.

“I consider the character of Mr Hire as my first major compositional role, White will comment. And in the process, I actually did little acting as an actor simply because I was offered less interesting roles.”

His appearance is now a far cry from that of the Jean-Claude Dusse of his beginnings: he now has a few kilos more and less mustache. Michel Blanc then plays in The Monsterunder the direction of the whimsical Italian Roberto Benigni in 1994, after having directed Very tired for which he won the prize for best screenplay. It then ensures the realization of Bad pass in 1999 in which Daniel Auteuil plays and especially Kiss whoever you wantthree years later, alongside Charlotte Rampling, Jacques Dutronc and Carole Bouquet. He will offer a sequel to this choral film in 2018, See how we dance.

Michel Blanc: “Women inspire me to play more positive roles than guys”

The mixed reception of Tanned 3

If he enjoys directing, Michel Blanc enjoys acting just as much, if not more. He takes up the interpretation in Mrs Edward in 2003 and The Dominici affaira TV film in which he plays Commissioner Sébeille. He then slips into the shoes of Aymé Pigrenet in I find you very beautiful by Isabelle Mergault. New big French success, with more than 3.5 million entries.

“I wanted this film because Isabelle offered me a role that was usually offered to Jugnot!the actor told us in 2019. Much more sentimental than I usually am. I was a little afraid of breaking my nose, but I accepted to broaden my range of games.”

The year 2006 saw the return with fanfare of Popeye, Bernard, Nathalie and Jean-Claude, gathered 27 years later in Sardinia in: Les Bronzés 3, Friends for life. If the film is a success in theaters – it is even the biggest of its career, with 10.2 million admissions, its quality is far from being up to the first two parts, and Blanc will not have keeps repeating that he no longer wants to follow up on the saga that made him so popular with the public.

From the valet of Louis XV in 1974, to Professor Martineau of Our 18th birthday by Frédéric Berthe in 2008, including of course the inevitable Jean-Claude Dusse, Michel Blanc has blessed us with laughter and emotion for four decades.

After these comedies, Michel Blanc returns to drama with The girl from the RER in which he played the role of lawyer Bleinstein in 2009. In 2011, he was featured in The exercise of the stateby Pierre Scholler, that we find the actor. A political work which allowed him to win the César for best actor in a supporting role, even if he admitted to us having had a little difficulty in “find” this character:

“I had dreamed for a long time of playing a character with convictions stronger than anything: a man of the Church, a soldier… This chief of staff belongs to that family. He has the same relationship with the State as a priest with God. Impossible to say no despite my anxiety of not being up to him, so far away from me. It was Pierre's gaze that carried me. He had researched a lot, had met directors of. cabinet and had a very precise idea of ​​how I should embody this character At first, I was too nice: a director must be courteous, but not nice.

We then had to wait until 2013 to find Michel in the cinema, in Half-sister by and with Josiane Balasko. This last decade, Michel Blanc has experienced new successes, notably with Jean-Paul Rouve (The Memories, The Touches 4). His last screenplay for the cinema dates back to 2016, when he adapted A little jobby Iain Levinson, for Pascal Chaumeil (The Heartbreaker). He played one of the two main roles alongside Romain Duris.

In 2021, the entire Splendid troupe had been reunited on the César stage to receive an honorary prize. Michel Blanc was obviously one of them.

Les Bronzés 3: “When a film has more than 10 million admissions, do you honestly think it’s not appreciated?”