Bernard Giraudeau - biography

1947-2010

Biography

In a career that spanned just over three decades, Bernard Giraudeau earned considerable respect as an actor, writer and film director, showing immense talent and insight in a wide range of artistic endeavours. Whilst he is best known as an actor, featuring in some very high profile French films of the 1980s and ’90s, he was also an accomplished author of literary fiction. He may not have found international recognition, but in his native France he was highly regarded and greatly liked.

Giraudeau was born in La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, France on 18 June 1947. The son of a military man, he joined the French Navy as a trainee engineer in 1963, aged 16. Having qualified, he spent the next few years serving in the Navy, his time of service including a stint aboard the frigate Duquesne and the aircraft carrier Clemenceau. A naval career was not for him, however, and so he gave up a life on the ocean wave to pursue his dream of becoming an actor.

In 1970, Giraudeau entered the Conservatoire de Paris, an elite drama school, and emerged a fully fledged and highly capable actor. His first film role came along in 1973, in José Giovanni’s Deux homes dans la ville (1973). He then appeared in several popular comedies, his demonic good looks and charisma making him ideal for the part of the seductive young Don Juan. These films included: Et la tendresse ? Bordel ! (1978), La Boum (1980) and Viens chez moi, j'habite chez une copine (1981).

During the 1980s, Bernard Giraudeau extended his repertoire and gravitated towards more ambiguous, darker roles. In some films - Rue barbare (1983), Le Grand pardon (1981) and L'Année des méduses (1984) - he played characters with a cruel, even sadistic streak, whilst in others - Le Ruffian (1983) and Les Spécialistes (1985) - he played the dare-devil adventurer.

Giraudeau’s best period as an actor came in the 1990s, when, working with some well-regarded filmmakers (Patrice Leconte, Nicole Garcia, Diane Kurys), he took on some more challenging and interesting roles. In many of these films, Giraudeau brought an intensity and subtle hint of the sinister, which made his performances both compelling and disturbing. His best work in this period is to be found in: Le Fils préféré (1994), Ridicule (1995), Une affaire de gout (1999) and Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes (2000).

Not content with being merely a successful actor, Bernard Giraudeau took to filmmaking in the late 1980s. He began by directing his wife, Anny Duperey, in a film for French television, La Face de l'ogre (1988). He then directed two ambitious feature films for cinema, L'Autre (1991) and Les Caprices d'un fleuve (1996), which reflected his own thirst for travel and adventure.

Giraudeau’s career and personal life suffered a major blow in the year 2000 when he was diagnosed with cancer and had to have one of his kidneys removed. Five years later, he suffered a relapse, but now the cancer had spread to his lungs. He accepted his illness with equanimity, although extensive medical intervention had left him weak and he could not longer continue acting.

Giraudeau would spend what remained of his life fighting the disease and lending his support to cancer organisations such as the Institut Curie. Whilst doing so, he embarked on a successful career as a novelist, his work including: Le Marin à l'ancre (2001), Les Hommes à terre (2004) and Les Femmes de nage (2007). He also published some children’s stories, Contes d'Humahuaca (2002), and narrated the French audio books of the Harry Potter series. After a steady decline in his health, Bernard Giraudeau died peacefully in a Paris hospital on 17th July 2010. His memory will be preserved not only by his impressive body of work, but by his daughter Sara, who has established herself as an actor of considerable talent.

© James Travers 2010

Bernard Giraudeau is best-known for the following films: