Gérard Oury (born Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum; 29 April 1919 – 20 July 2006) was a French film director, actor and writer.
Gérard Oury | |
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![]() Oury in 1984 | |
Born | Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum 29 April 1919 Paris, France |
Died | 20 July 2006 Saint-Tropez, France | (aged 87)
Years active | 1942–2003 |
Spouse |
Life and career
editMax-Gérard Houry-Tannenbaum was the only son of Serge Tannenbaum, a violinist of Russian-Jewish origin,[1] and French Jewish Marcelle Houry, a journalist and art critic.[2] Tannenbaum was absent from the life of Oury and he was raised in an unobservant house of his mother and maternal grandmother Berthe Goldner.[3] Oury studied at the Lycée Janson de Sailly and then at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art. He became a member of the Comédie-Française before World War II, but fled with all his family (mother, grandmother and unofficial wife, actress Jacqueline Roman ) to Switzerland to escape the anti-Jewish persecutions by the Vichy government. When in 1942 his daughter Danièle Thompson was born, his fatherhood was concealed, to avoid her classification as a Jew.[3]
After 1945 he returned to the liberated Paris and restarted his career as an actor, performing in the theatre and in supporting roles in the cinema. Oury became a movie director in 1959 (The Itchy Palm ) and gained his first success in 1961 with Crime Does Not Pay (Le crime ne paie pas).
Pairing André Bourvil and Louis de Funès as a comic duo, he burst into commercial filmmaking with 1965's The Sucker (Le corniaud). The film was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival.[4] The following year, Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At! (La Grande Vadrouille) was even more successful, attracting the largest audiences ever in France (17.27 million admissions). This box-office record stood for decades, only surpassed in 1997 by Titanic from James Cameron.[5]
Oury shot the 1969 comedy Le Cerveau (The Brain) in English, starring David Niven in the lead role as a criminal mastermind.
With actress Jacqueline Roman, he was the father of French writer Danièle Thompson and grandfather of actor/writer Christopher Thompson. He lived together with the French actress Michèle Morgan for the second half of his life. He died aged 87 in Saint-Tropez on 20 July 2006.[6]
Filmography
editActor | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
1942 | Les Petits Riens | Philinte | Raymond Leboursier | |
1947 | Antoine and Antoinette | a customer | Jacques Becker | |
1949 | Jo la Romance | Roland Grenier | Gilles Grangier | |
1949 | Du Guesclin | Charles V of France | Bernard Delatour | |
1950 | La Souricière | Petit rôle | Henri Calef | Uncredited |
1949 | La Belle que voilà | Bruno | Jean-Paul Le Chanois | |
1951 | Without Leaving an Address | a journalist | Jean-Paul Le Chanois | |
1951 | Mr. Peek-a-Boo | Maurice | Jean Boyer | |
1951 | The Night Is My Kingdom | Lionel Moreau | Georges Lacombe | |
1952 | Le Costaud des Batignolles | Récitant / Narrator | Guy Lacourt | Voice |
1953 | Endless Horizons | Jean Dréville | Voice | |
1953 | Sea Devils | Napoleon | Raoul Walsh | |
1953 | The Sword and the Rose | the Dauphin | Ken Annakin | |
1953 | The Heart of the Matter | Yusef | George More O'Ferrall | |
1954 | They Who Dare | Captain George Two | Lewis Milestone | |
1954 | Father Brown | Inspector Dubois | Robert Hamer | |
1954 | Loves of Three Queens | Napoleon Bonaparte | Marc Allégret and Edgar G. Ulmer | (segment: Napoleon and Josephine) |
1954 | The River Girl | Enzo Cinti | Mario Soldati | |
1954 | I cavalieri dell'illusione | Napoleone Bonaparte | Marc Allégret | |
1955 | The Heroes Are Tired | Villeterre | Yves Ciampi | |
1956 | La Meilleure Part | Gérard Bailly - un ingénieur | Yves Allégret | |
1956 | House of Secrets | Julius Pindar | Guy Green | |
1957 | Méfiez-vous fillettes | Marcel Palmer | Yves Allégret | |
1958 | Le Septième Ciel | Maurice Portal | Raymond Bernard | |
1958 | Back to the Wall | Jacques Decrey | Édouard Molinaro | |
1958 | Le Miroir à deux faces | Doctor Bosc | André Cayatte | |
1959 | The Journey | Teklel Hafouli | Anatole Litvak | |
1960 | La Main chaude | Cameo Appearance | Gérard Oury | Uncredited |
1961 | The Menace | Le docteur | Gérard Oury | |
1963 | The Prize | Doctor Claude Marceau | Mark Robson | |
1986 | A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later | Un spectateur de '40 ans déjà' | Claude Lelouch | Uncredited |
2003 | Là-haut, un roi au-dessus des nuages | Le général de La Motte-Noire | Pierre Schoendoerffer | (final film role) |
Director | ||||
Year | Title | Cast | Notes | |
1960 | La Main chaude | with Jacques Charrier and Macha Méril |
also credited as writer | |
1961 | La Menace | with Robert Hossein and Marie-José Nat |
||
1962 | Crime Does Not Pay | Danielle Darrieux, Michèle Morgan, Edwige Feuillère, Gino Cervi, Gabriele Ferzetti, Annie Girardot, Pierre Brasseur, and others |
also credited as writer | |
1965 | The Sucker | starring Bourvil and Louis de Funès |
also credited as writer | |
1966 | La Grande Vadrouille | starring Bourvil, Louis de Funès and Terry-Thomas |
also credited as writer | |
1969 | The Brain | Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bourvil, David Niven, Eli Wallach and others |
also credited as writer | |
1971 | Delusions of Grandeur | starring Louis de Funès and Yves Montand |
also credited as writer | |
1973 | The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob | starring Louis de Funès | also credited as writer | |
1978 | La Carapate | starring Pierre Richard | also credited as writer | |
1980 | The Umbrella Coup | starring Pierre Richard | also credited as writer | |
1982 | The Ace of Aces / The Super Ace | starring Jean-Paul Belmondo | also credited as writer | |
1984 | La vengeance du serpent à plumes | starring Coluche, and Josiane Balasko |
also credited as writer | |
1987 | Lévy et Goliath | with Richard Anconina, and Michel Boujenah |
also credited as writer | |
1993 | La Soif de l'or | with Tsilla Chelton, Catherine Jacob, Christian Clavier and others |
also credited as writer | |
1996 | Fantôme avec chauffeur | with Philippe Noiret, and Gérard Jugnot |
||
1999 | Le schpountz | with Smaïn, Sabine Azéma and others |
also credited as writer | |
Writer only | ||||
Year | Title | Cast | Notes | |
1960 | Come Dance with Me! | starring Brigitte Bardot | adaptation | |
1996 | The Mirror Has Two Faces | with Barbra Streisand, Jeff Bridges, Pierce Brosnan and others |
Remake of Le Miroir à deux faces (1958) |
References
edit- ^ "Gérard Oury". 29 April 1919.
- ^ Laurent Bourdon , Définitivement Belmondo, p. 239
- ^ a b Mulvey, Michael. (2017). "What Was So Funny about Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob (1973): A Comedic Film between History and Memory", French Politics, Culture & Society, 35(3), pp. 24-43 JSTOR 26892954, p. 29
- ^ "4th Moscow International Film Festival (1965)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
- ^ Schneider, Steven Jay, ed. (2007). 501 Movie Directors. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 238. ISBN 9781844035731. OCLC 1347156402.
- ^ "Gérard Oury est décédé" (in French). Le Figaro. 20 July 2006.