European Film Star Postcards: Fernand Raynaud

19 May 2024

Fernand Raynaud

French actor and singer Fernand Raynaud (1926-1973) was one of the most renowned stand-up comedians of the 1950s and 1960s. He began his career playing and singing in cabarets and music halls and then became a national star thanks to television. He played typical, average Frenchmen, making funny faces and using mime and slapstick humour.

French postcard by Publistar, Marseille, no. 955. Photo: Aubert / Philips. Caption on board: Here we sell beautiful oranges at low prices.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 815. Photo: Teddy Piaz, Paris.

Starring in the most prestigious venues of the day

André Gustave Fernand Raynaud was born in Clermont-Ferrand, France, in 1926. His family lived there in the Oradou working-class housing estate built by Michelin. His father was a foreman who worked for a company that was later absorbed by the SNCF after nationalisation. His sister Yolande, thirteen years his senior, became a key character in his sketches.

At the age of 15, Fernand left school after obtaining his school-leaving certificate. He played amateur theatre and worked as a reelman, an architect's clerk, a cinema projectionist and a digger at the Aulnat Air Force camp, near Clermont-Ferrand. During the war, after a final quarrel with his father, he moved to Paris.

At 18, he lost two fingers in a train accident. According to the anecdote, exhausted by his work and anxious not to disturb a couple, he discreetly sat down and fell asleep next to a track. A train ripped two fingers off his left hand. Another version of the accident explains the reason for the loss of his two fingers as being the accidental handling of an axe by one of his friends, in a cowshed, at the age of 17.

As soon as he arrived in Paris, he went to the Folies Bergère every evening to see the comedy shows of the day. After a few lean years, he began a career as an entertainer in brasseries and cabarets, gradually working his way up to stand-up acts, then to opening acts, and finally to his own show, starring in the most prestigious venues of the day.

In the early 1950s, Fernand Raynaud met presenter Jean Nohain which set the course for his career. He took part in the television programme 36 Chandelles, where he performed alongside Roger Pierre and Jean-Marc Thibault, Darry Cowl, and Raymond Devos. One of his most famous sketches, 'Un certain temps', was based on an anecdote that happened to Jean Nohain during his military service.

French promotion card by Philips. Photo: Aubert / Philips.

French promotion card by J. Moreau Publicité. Photo: Jacques Aubert / Philips.

The first one-man comedy show in France

In December 1955, Fernand Raynaud married singer Renée Caron, with whom he had two children, Pascal and Françoise. His wedding witnesses were comedians Roger Pierre and Jean-Marc Thibault. He lived in Gennevilliers, a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris and some of his sketches bear the imprint of characters he came across in his immediate environment.

He appeared in some 20 films including the comedies Fernand clochard/Fernand the Tramp (Piere Chevalier, 1957), Le Sicilien/The Sicilian (Piere Chevalier, 1958) and Auguste (Piere Chevalier, 1961) with Valérie Lagrange. In 1959, he invented the first one-man comedy show in France, 'Fernand Raynaud Chaud' at the Théâtre des Variétés. Only 20 performances were scheduled for this two-hour one-man show, but it was a triumph for 18 months. He then embarked on a series of tours in France, Canada, Africa and the Pacific. He also played regularly at the Olympia and Bobino.

In 1961, Fernad Raynaud performed his show 'Le Fernand Raynaud Chaud' at the Théâtre de l'Étoile. The show ran for almost two months and some of his sketches were recorded. He then hired a rock and roll group, Les Vautours, with whom he performed a sketch every night. In 1962, he produced Molière's 'Le Bourgeois gentilhomme', in which he played Monsieur Jourdain. A year later, he played Sganarelle in Molière's 'Don Juan, alongside Georges Descrières.

That same year, he became one of the first shareholders in Minute. At the time, the newspaper, founded by Jean-François Devay, a medallist in the French Resistance, "tended to focus on 'celebrity' news [...], and was also in the tradition of the satirical papers" of the day. Its first shareholders included celebrities such as Françoise Sagan, Eddie Barclay and Juliette Gréco.In 1970, he presented an all-mime show at the Théâtre de la Ville entitled 'Une heure sans paroles', which was a great success.

On 28 September 1973, while on his way to Clermont-Ferrand for a gala in aid of workers, he was killed when the white Rolls-Royce Corniche convertible, which he was driving at very high speed, swerved to the left in a bend, hit a car and then a lorry, Then it collided before colliding with the wall of a cemetery at the entrance to Cheix-sur-Morge (Puy-de-Dôme), between Aigueperse and Riom. Fernand Raynaud was killed in the car crash.