Francis Blanche
Acteur, Schrijver, Regisseur
20 juli 1921 — 6 juli 1974 (52 years)
François Jean Blanche, known as "Francis Blanche" (20 July 1921 – 6 July 1974) was a French actor, singer, humorist and author. He was a very popular figure on stage, radio and in films, during the 1950s and 1960s. His two daughters, Barbara & Dominique, are artists with their studios in Eze.
Blanche was born in an artistic family, mainly of stage actors—including his father Louis Blanche and his uncle, Emmanuel Blanche, who was a painter—. He completed his secondary schooling at fourteen, the youngest in France to do so at the time.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Blanche was part of Robert Dhéry's theatrical company Les Branquignols, with whom he played in the film Ah! Les belles bacchantes, starring Robert Dhéry, Colette Brosset (Dhéry's then-wife), and Louis de Funès; directed by Jean Loubignac in 1954.
Blanche teamed up with Pierre Dac to form a comic duo best remembered for Le Sâr Rabindranath Duval, a sketch about a phony and nonsensical Indian clairvoyant and guru (1957). They also created a popular and equally nonsensical radiophonic series, loosely based on a highly improbable espionage and conspiration plot, Malheur aux barbus, which was broadcast on Paris Inter in 213 episodes from 1951 to 1952. The same plot and characters were revived on Europe 1 in a series called Signé Furax, enjoying no less than 1,034 daily episodes between 1956 and 1960. Both broadcasts were phenomenal audience successes in the pre-television era. Blanche was also renowned for broadcasting phone pranks, in which he entertained listeners by making the most improbable situations sound plausible.
He wrote poems, and the lyrics of 673 songs. On stage, he acted in Tartuffe and Néron and, in 1955, Chevalier du Ciel, an operetta by Luis Mariano at the Gaîté-Lyrique theatre.
Blanche also enjoyed a successful cinematographic career, both as an actor and scriptwriter. He appeared as a hard-headed German colonel ("Obersturmführer Schulz") opposite Brigitte Bardot in Babette s'en va-t-en guerre (1959). He was one of the favourite actors of French filmmaker Georges Lautner, and played Maître Folace (a shady solicitor counselling a colourful gangster mob) in Les Tontons flingueurs (1963). Blanche also appeared in Boris Vassilief's Les Barbouzes (1964).
He delighted in parodying classical music, adapting famous works such as Schubert's "Die Forelle" (The Trout) into a crazy and slightly risqué piece about a 16-year-old romantic girl obsessed with Schubert's song to the point of giving birth to a live trout while performing it on her piano. Similarly, he turned Beethoven's 5th Symphony into a lengthy and quite repetitive musical glorification of the clothes peg and its fictitious inventor, Jérémie-Victor Opdebec.
Blanche died at the age of 52, from a heart attack with a background of untreated Type 1 diabetes. He is buried in Èze cemetery.
Source: Article "Francis Blanche" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Blanche was born in an artistic family, mainly of stage actors—including his father Louis Blanche and his uncle, Emmanuel Blanche, who was a painter—. He completed his secondary schooling at fourteen, the youngest in France to do so at the time.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Blanche was part of Robert Dhéry's theatrical company Les Branquignols, with whom he played in the film Ah! Les belles bacchantes, starring Robert Dhéry, Colette Brosset (Dhéry's then-wife), and Louis de Funès; directed by Jean Loubignac in 1954.
Blanche teamed up with Pierre Dac to form a comic duo best remembered for Le Sâr Rabindranath Duval, a sketch about a phony and nonsensical Indian clairvoyant and guru (1957). They also created a popular and equally nonsensical radiophonic series, loosely based on a highly improbable espionage and conspiration plot, Malheur aux barbus, which was broadcast on Paris Inter in 213 episodes from 1951 to 1952. The same plot and characters were revived on Europe 1 in a series called Signé Furax, enjoying no less than 1,034 daily episodes between 1956 and 1960. Both broadcasts were phenomenal audience successes in the pre-television era. Blanche was also renowned for broadcasting phone pranks, in which he entertained listeners by making the most improbable situations sound plausible.
He wrote poems, and the lyrics of 673 songs. On stage, he acted in Tartuffe and Néron and, in 1955, Chevalier du Ciel, an operetta by Luis Mariano at the Gaîté-Lyrique theatre.
Blanche also enjoyed a successful cinematographic career, both as an actor and scriptwriter. He appeared as a hard-headed German colonel ("Obersturmführer Schulz") opposite Brigitte Bardot in Babette s'en va-t-en guerre (1959). He was one of the favourite actors of French filmmaker Georges Lautner, and played Maître Folace (a shady solicitor counselling a colourful gangster mob) in Les Tontons flingueurs (1963). Blanche also appeared in Boris Vassilief's Les Barbouzes (1964).
He delighted in parodying classical music, adapting famous works such as Schubert's "Die Forelle" (The Trout) into a crazy and slightly risqué piece about a 16-year-old romantic girl obsessed with Schubert's song to the point of giving birth to a live trout while performing it on her piano. Similarly, he turned Beethoven's 5th Symphony into a lengthy and quite repetitive musical glorification of the clothes peg and its fictitious inventor, Jérémie-Victor Opdebec.
Blanche died at the age of 52, from a heart attack with a background of untreated Type 1 diabetes. He is buried in Èze cemetery.
Source: Article "Francis Blanche" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known For
Filmography
| 2020 | |
| 2007 | Louis de Funès intime · as Le Ténor Garibaldo Trouchet |
| 1974 | No Pockets in a Shroud · as Nathaël Grissom |
| 1974 | Say It with Flowers · as Gérard Rollain |
| 1974 | France, Incorporated · as Pierre, The Perverted Financier |
| 1974 | Par le sang des autres · as Doctor |
| 1974 | OK Patron · as Victor Hutin, Sophie's Father |
| 1973 | La dernière bourrée à Paris · as Gaston Payrac |
| 1973 | The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot · as Wanderer |
| 1973 | The Loner · as Norbert |
| 1973 | I racconti romani di una ex novizia · as Pietro L'aretino |
| 1973 | I've Had It · as Mr. De Chatiez |
| 1972 | The Terror with Cross-Eyes · as Commissioner Pigna |
| 1972 | The Eroticist · as Padre Scirer |
| 1972 | L'odeur des fauves · as Paluche |
| 1971 | La grande maffia... · as Modeste Miette |
| 1971 | Il furto è l'anima del commercio?!... · as Sigfrid |
| 1971 | Qu'est-ce qui fait courir les crocodiles? · as Hector Grogenol |
| 1971 | Les jambes en l'air · as Hugon |
| 1971 | La grande java · as Auguste Kougloff / Augustin Colombani |
| 1970 | Are You Engaged to a Greek Sailor or an Airline Pilot? · as Maurice Gombaud |
| 1970 | Ces messieurs de la gâchette · as Marco Lombardi |
| 1970 | The Stud · as Tax Collector Dupuis |
| 1969 | Un merveilleux parfum d'oseille · as Loïc De Kerfuntel |
| 1969 | Erotissimo · as Le Polyvalent |
| 1969 | Les gros malins · as Francis Bertolde Aka 'le Book' |
| 1968 | The Big Wash · as Doctor Loupioc |
| 1968 | Salut Berthe! · as Passerby With The Pipe (uncredited) |
| 1968 | Ces messieurs de la famille · as Strumberger |
| 1967 | La feldmarescialla · as Captain Hans Vogel |
| 1967 | Du mou dans la gâchette · as La Prudence |
| 1967 | Le grand bidule · as Copec |
| 1967 | Belle de Jour · as Mr. Adolphe |
| 1967 | Le canard en fer blanc · as Le Docteur Grego |
| 1967 | The Oldest Profession · as The Doctor (segment "aujourd'hui") |
| 1967 | Deux Romains en Gaule · as Le Druide Inventeur De La Potion D'invisibilité |
| 1967 | Les compagnons de la marguerite · as L'inspecteur Maurice Leloup |
| 1967 | Femmina · as Gédéon |
| 1966 | Les malabars sont au parfum · as Ivanov |
| 1966 | Galia · as L'homme De La Piscine |
| 1966 | At the Theater Tonight · as Léo Bertold |
| 1965 | La tête du client · as Mario L'enchanteur |
| 1965 | Les baratineurs · as Louis Dujardin |
| 1964 | Chance at Love · as Adjutant (segment "chance Du Guerrier, La") |
| 1964 | Les gorilles · as Félix |
| 1964 | The Great Spy Chase · as Boris Vassiliev |
| 1964 | |
| 1964 | Jaloux comme un tigre · as Chauffeur |
| 1964 | Les pieds nickelés · as Commissaire Lenoir |
| 1964 | Male Hunt · as Nino Papatakis |
| 1964 | Le repas des fauves · as Francis |
| 1964 | The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers · as Mr. Humlaupt (segment "l'homme Qui Vendit La Tour Eiffel") |
| 1964 | Clémentine chérie · as Nuisance At The Miss Ceremony (uncredited) |
| 1964 | Requiem pour un caïd · as Émile Aka 'le Boxeur' |
| 1964 | Les gros bras · as Mr. Pédro Andromèze |
| 1964 | Dandelions by the Roots · as L'oncle Absalon, Le Savant Farfelu |
| 1964 | The Black Tulip · as Plantin |
| 1963 | Crooks in Clover · as Maître Folace |
| 1963 | Sweet and Sour · as Franz |
| 1963 | Un drôle de paroissien · as Chief Insp. Cucherat |
| 1963 | The Virgins · as Mr. De Brétevielle |
| 1963 | People in Luck · as M. Bricheton (segment "le Repas Gastronomique") |
| 1963 | The Man from Chicago · as Arnakos |
| 1963 | Who Stole the Body? · as Édouard |
| 1962 | Tartarin de Tarascon · as Antoine Tartarin |
| 1962 | Snobs! · as Morloch |
| 1962 | The Seventh Juror · as Le Procureur Général |
| 1962 | The Vendetta · as Bartoli |
| 1962 | Hitch-Hike · as Le Douanier Belge |
| 1962 | Operation Gold Ingot · as Fellous |
| 1961 | Romulus and the Sabines · as Mezio |
| 1961 | Les Menteurs · as Blanchin |
| 1961 | Long Live Henry IV... Long Live Love! · as Prior |
| 1960 | Love and the Frenchwoman · as Me Marcerou, Avocat Et Ami Du Couple (segment "le Divorce") |
| 1960 | Little Girls and High Finance · as Bank Manager |
| 1960 | |
| 1960 | A noi piace freddo...! · as Von Krussendorf |
| 1960 | Les pique-assiette · as Félix |
| 1960 | Some Like It... Cold · as William Foster Valmorin, American |
| 1960 | A Couple · as M. Gratteloup |
| 1959 | The Green Mare · as Ferdinand Haudouin |
| 1959 | Babette Goes to War · as Schulz |
| 1959 | Too Late to Love · as Camille, Le Patron Du Bistrot |
| 1959 | The Motorcycle Cops · as His Excellency Curacagua |
| 1958 | Toto in Paris · as Il Maggiordomo (uncredited) |
| 1958 | The Little Professor · as General Overseer |
| 1958 | Sputnik · as Chazot |
| 1957 | Everybody Wants to Kill Me · as La Bonbonne |
| 1957 | La polka des menottes · as Un Voisin |
| 1956 | Honoré de Marseille · as Pasquale Marchetti |
| 1954 | Ah! The Beautiful Priestesses of Bacchus · as Garibaldo Trouchet, Le Ténor / Un Musicien |
| 1954 | Trust Me! · as Nicolas |
| 1953 | Midnight... Quai de Bercy · as M. Boulay, L'épicier Libidineux |
| 1942 | Frédérica · as Ami De Gilbert |
| 1981 | |
| 1973 | The Big Feast · as Screenplay |
| 1962 | |
| 1954 |
| 2003 | |
| 1972 | Midi Trente · as Self |
| 1972 | Top to ... · as Self |
| 1956 | Cinépanorama · as Self |
| 1966 | At the Theater Tonight · as Adaptation |
| 1954 | Ah! The Beautiful Priestesses of Bacchus · as Lyricist |