French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 816. Photo: Teddy Piaz, Paris.
French postcard by E.D.U.G. (Editions du Globe), Paris, no. 269. Photo: Sam Lévin. Roger Pierre and Jean-Marc Thibault.
French promotion card by Disques Adès. Photo: B. Marsan. Signed in 1984.
A long career as a comedy duo in Parisian cabarets
Roger Pierre was born in Le-Port Marly, France 1923. In 1946 he made his stage debut in a cabaret and was an extra in the war drama Le Père tranquille/Mr. Orchid (René Clément, 1946) starring Noël-Noël.
In 1947, he worked as a presenter of commercials at Radio-Luxembourg. There he met Jean-Marc Thibault whose texts he had to read. It was the start of a long career as a comedy duo in Parisian cabarets like le Tabou, le Caveau de la Terreur, l'Amiral, and le Moulin-Rouge.
The men wrote some 3,000 sketches and songs together. They appeared in many TV shows of Maritie and Gilbert Carpentier and also starred in several film comedies together. These films included La Vie est belle/Life is Beautiful (Roger Pierre, Jean-Marc Thibault, 1956), Vive les vacances/Gimme A Break (Jean-Marc Thibault, 1958) written by Thibault and Pierre, Les Motards/The Motorcycle Cops (Jean Laviron, 1959) also with Francis Blanche and co-written by Thibault and Pierre, Un cheval pour deux/A Horse for Two (Jean-Marc Thibault, 1961) and Faites donc plaisir aux amis/So be happy with friends (Francis Rigaud, 1969).
Together they also appeared in supporting parts in many other film comedies like Nous irons à Deauville/We Go to Deauville (Francis Rigaud, 1962) with Louis de Funès, and Les Baratineurs/The Talkers (Francis Rigaud, 1965) starring Jean Poiret. Between 1967 and 1970, Thibault and Pierre presented the TV show Les Grands Enfants/Big Kids. Many French comedians of the day frequented this entertainment show: Jacqueline Maillan, Jean Poiret, Michel Serrault, Sophie Desmarest, Jean Yanne, Marcel Amont and many others.
From 1972 till 1975 they made everybody in France laugh with their historical comedy shows Les maudits rois fainéants/The damned lazy kings and Les z'heureux rois z'Henri/The Happy Kings Henry. Their final films together were the comedies En grandes pompes/With great fanfare (André Teisseire, 1974) with Ginette Leclerc, and Gross Paris (Gilles Grangier, 1974).
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 464. Photo: Sam Lévin.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 745. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.
French postcard by J.P.B. for Ducretet Thomson.
An interesting film career
In 1976 and after 28 years together, the artistic ways of Jean-Marc Thibault and Roger Pierre parted.
In the following years, Pierre appeared in interesting films like Comme sur des roulettes (Nina Companeez, 1976), Mon oncle d'Amérique/My American Uncle (Alain Resnais, 1980) with Gérard Depardieu, and Camera d'albergo/Hotel Room (Mario Monicelli, 1981) starring Vittorio Gassman.
After 1976, Roger Pierre continued to work on stage and television. During the 1980s, he participated in Jeux de 20 heures. He cooperated on the cult TV show Grosses Têtes by Philippe Bouvard. He also appeared in the TV show Incroyable mais vrai!
At 80 he played in the TV film L'Ami d’enfance de Maigret/The Childhood Friend of Maigret (Laurent Heynemann, 2003), with Bruno Crémer as Inspector Jules Maigret. He had his final film role in Les Herbes folles/Wild Grass (Alain Resnais, 2009) with Sabine Azéma.
Pierre and Thibault twice reunited. In 1984 they worked together for the spectacle 'Nos premiers adieux' at the Théâtre Antoine in Paris. They did that again in 1990 at l'Olympia. Roger Pierre, died of cancer in 2010 at the age of 86. About his private life, little is known.
East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2.046, 1964.
French postcard by Monachrome, Beausoleil, no. 203. Caption: ZOO Jean Richard, Ermenonville (Oise). From left to right: Gertrude (gorilla). Jean Richard (man), Faston (chimpanzee), Kiki (chimpanzee), Roger Pierre (man).
French postcard by G.P.C., Saint Etienne, sent by mail in 1973. Photo: Jean-Marc Thibault and Roger Pierre in a TV commercial for les cafés et chocolats Casino. On the flip side, the card is signed by Thibault and Pierre.
Sources: Le Parisien.fr, Wikipedia (French and English) and IMDb.
No comments:
Post a Comment