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One of French cinema’s most prolific and versatile actors, Michel
Serrault was born at Brunoy, in the suburbs of Paris, on 24th January
1928. Originally destined for the priesthood, he dropped out
after a short time in a seminary and took a course in drama. He
began as a stage actor in 1946, appearing on tour in Germany in
Molière’s Les Fourberies de
Scapin and André Obey’s Revenu de l’étoile.
After a break during which he did his military service in Dijon, he
returned to Paris and starred in Robert Dhéry’s stage production
of Dugudu.
In 1952, Michel Serrault met another young actor, Jean Poiret, at the
Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt; it was the start of a long and
fruitful partnership with the two actors appearing alongside one another on
numerous occasions on stage and in films. One of their most
notable film collaborations was Sacha Guitry’s final film Assassins et voleurs (1957).
Michel Serrault’s long and illustrious film career began in 1954 with
Jean Loubignac’s Ah! Les Belles bacchantes and
Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Les Diaboliques.
Over the next twenty years, he would appear in around 80 films, in a
rich variety of supporting roles that ranged from the absurdly comedic
to the deadly serious, reflecting his innate flair for comedy and his
consummate skill as a character actor par
excellence.
It was not until the late 1970s that Michel Serrault passed from being
a comparatively minor stage and film actor to an international
star. His breakthrough was his portrayal of the outrageously camp
drag artiste Albin in Edouard Molinaro’s hit film La Cage aux folles
(1978). He had spent the past five years playing the part in a
hugely popular stage version, written by his friend Jean Poiret.
This was to be Serrault’s most famous role, and the one that earned him
the Best Actor César in 1979.
Michel Serrault’s film career flourished in the 1980s, and included
roles which were the polar opposite of the likeable Albin that had
brought him celebrity. He became known for playing much
more complex and tragic characters, often with dark psychopathic
tendencies masked by a seemingly benign or whimsical exterior – for
example, in Claude Chabrol’s Les Fantômes du chapelier
1982) and Claude Miller’s Mortelle randonnée
(1983). One of his darkest roles was that of a suspected child
killer in Claude Miller’s Garde à vie (1981), a
part for which he won his second César.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Serrault showed a careless lack of
discrimination in the films he acted in, with the result that he would
often be seen in some very mediocre films – such as: La Cage aux folles 3 (1985), Les Rois du gag (1985) and Vieille canaille (1992).
Yet he still had some notable successes, films such as Etienne
Chatilliez’s Le Bonheur est dans le pré
(1995) and Claude Sautet’s Nelly et M. Arnaud (1995), the
latter of which earned him his third César. In 1999, he
was awarded the Légion d’Honneur in recognition of his
great contribution to French culture.
With an energy and enthusiasm that seemed to be unbounded, Michel
Serrault was active well into his 70s, averaging between two and three
films a year right up until the end. His later successes
include Christian Carion’s poignant Une hirondelle a fait le printemps
(2001) and Pierre Boutron’s gripping TV drama L’Affaire Dominici
(2003). He died on July 30th 2007, at his home in Honfleur,
Normandy, from a cancer-related illness. He leaves a wife,
Juanita, and daughter, Nathalie.
In the course of a film career
that spanned 53 years and around 130 films for cinema and 30 for
television, Michel Serrault became one of the most respected actors of
his generation, a face known throughout France, and a man who had a
tireless commitment to his art.
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The Actor
Michel Serrault has appeared in the following films:
Ah! Les belles bacchantes (1954)
Les Diaboliques (1955)
Cette sacrée gamine (1956)
La Vie est belle (1956)
La Terreur des dames (1956)
Ça aussi c’est Paris (1957)
Assassins et voleurs (1957)
Adorables démons (1957)
Musée Grévin (1958)
Le Naïf aux quarante enfants (1958)
Clara et les méchants (1958)
Nina (1959)
Oh! Qué mambo (1959)
Messieurs les ronds de cuir (1959)
Vous n’avez rien à déclarer? (1959)
La Française et l’amour (1960)
Candide ou l’optimisme au XXe siècle (1960)
Ma femme est une panthère (1961)
La Belle Américaine (1961)
La Gamberge (1962)
Le Repos du guerrier (1962)
Comment réussir en amour (1962)
Un clair de lune à Maubeuge (1962)
Les Quatre vérités (1962)
Nous irons à Deauville (1962)
Clémentine chérie (1963)
Comment trouvez-vous ma soeur? (1963)
Carambolages (1963)
Bébert et l’omnibus (1963)
Des pissenlits par la racine (1964)
Les Durs à cuire (1964)
La Chasse à l’homme (1964)
Jaloux comme un tigre (1964)
Le Petit monstre (1965)
Les Enquiquineurs (1965)
Quand passent les faisans (1965)
Les Baratineurs (1965)
La Bonne occase (1965)
Moi et les hommes de 40 ans (1965)
Cent briques et des tuiles (1965)
Le Lit à deux places (1965)
La Tête du client (1965)
Du mou dans la gâchette (1966)
Les Combinards (1966)
Le Caïd de Champignol (1966)
Le Roi de coeur (1966)
Ces messieurs de la famille (1967)
Le Fou du labo 4 (1967)
Le Grand bidule (1967)
Les Compagnons de la marguerite (1967)
À tout casser (1968)
Mais qu’est-ce qui fait courir les crocodiles? (1969)
Un merveilleux parfum d’oseille (1969)
Appelez-moi Mathilde (1969)
Le Cri du cormoran, le soir au-dessus des jonques (1970)
Ces messieurs de la gâchette (1970)
La Liberté en croupe (1970)
Le Viager (1972)
Tout le monde il est beau, tout le monde il est gentil (1972)
Un meurtre est un meurtre (1972)
Moi y’en a vouloir des sous (1973)
La Belle affaire (1973)
Le Grand bazar (1973)
Les Gaspards (1974)
Les Chinois à Paris (1974)
La Main à couper (1974)
La Gueule de l’emploi (1974)
Un linceul n’a pas de poches (1974)
C’est pas parce qu’on a rien à dire qu’il faut fermer sa gueule... (1975)
L’Ibis rouge (1975)
Opération Lady Marlène (1975)
La Situation est grave... mais pas désespérée (1976)
Le Roi des bricoleurs (1977)
Préparez vos mouchoirs (1978)
L’Argent des autres (1978)
La Cage aux folles (1978)
L’Esprit de famille (1979)
L’Associé (1979)
La Gueule de l’autre (1979)
Buffet froid (1979)
Pile ou face (1980)
Le Coucou (1980)
La Cage aux folles II (1980)
Malevil (1981)
Garde à vue (1981)
Nestor Burma, détective de choc (1982)
Les Fantômes du chapelier (1982)
Les Quarantièmes rugissants (1982)
Deux heures moins le quart avant Jésus-Christ (1982)
Mortelle randonnée (1983)
Le Bon plaisir (1984)
À mort l’arbitre (1984)
Le Bon roi Dagobert (1984)
Liberté, égalité, choucroute (1985)
Les Rois du gag (1985)
On ne meurt que 2 fois (1985)
La Cage aux folles 3 – ’Elles’ se marient (1985)
Mon beau-frère a tué ma soeur (1986)
Le Miraculé (1987)
Ennemis intimes (1987)
En toute innocence (1988)
Bonjour l’angoisse (1988)
Ne réveillez pas un flic qui dort (1988)
Comédie d’amour (1989)
Buon Natale... Buon anno (1989)
Docteur Petiot (1990)
La Vieille qui marchait dans la mer (1991)
Ville à vendre (1992)
Room Service (1992)
Vieille canaille (1992)
Bonsoir (1994)
Nelly et Monsieur Arnaud (1995)
Le Bonheur est dans le pré (1995)
Beaumarchais, l’insolent (1996)
Assassin(s) (1997)
Artemisia (1997)
Rien ne va plus (1997)
Le Comédien (1997)
Les Enfants du marais (1999)
Le Monde de Marty (2000)
Le Libertin (2000)
Les Acteurs (2000)
Belphégor – Le Fantôme du Louvre (2001)
Une hirondelle a fait le printemps (2001)
Vajont – La diga del disonore (2001)
24 heures de la vie d’une femme (2002)
Le Papillon (2002)
Le Furet (2003)
Albert est méchant (2004)
Ne quittez pas! (2004)
Joyeux Noël (2005)
Grabuge! (2005)
Les Enfants du pays (2006)
Antonio Vivaldi, un prince à Venise (2006)
Le Bénévole (2006)
Pars vite et reviens tard (2007)
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