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Father– Hispan Carlos de Funes de Galarza
Mother– Leonor Soto de Galarza
Sister– Marie (Mina)
Niece (Mina's daughter)- Isabelle de Funes
Brother– Charles
Wife- Jeanne de Funes
Children– Patrick and Olivier
Hispan Carlos de Funes de Galarza
In 1904, Carlos fled Spain with his future wife, Leonor. Being a Spaniard, he was not subject to conscription in the army and thus survived. Louis' father, a former lawyer, got a job in a jewelry store, where he was the head of sales. Once a man came to his store who made a large purchase on credit, and then disappeared without a trace. Carlos de Funes had to make amends. After that, the father of Louis de Funes never returned his former prosperity. Their family had to move from Courbevoie to the small fishing town of Villiers-on-Marne, at 10 rue Gilbert.
He was distinguished by a balanced and calm disposition. He was not heard in the house. He was superbly polite, with a great sense of humor, but the daily worries did not bother him. He spent most of his time in cafes. This was a true southerner.
Carlos travels to Venezuela, hoping to succeed there. Letters from him came less and less. Three years later, Carlos' wife went in search of her prodigal husband. Carlos returns to France ill with tuberculosis. Date and place of death of Carlos: May 19, 1934 in Malaga.
Leonor Soto de Galarza
Leonor, a woman of stormy temperament, quarreled hoarsely with her neighbors and easily, without the slightest effort, knocked out a loan in a butcher's shop. Her husband, a noble Spanish nobleman, the favorite of the women of the whole quarter, very soon disappointed her. Leonor adored her children, so she did not skimp on flip flops and cuffs. Louis, on the other hand, went to the favorites, and she could not be angry with him for long. As soon as he imitated how the old shopkeeper was weighing grits, smacking his lips and spitting on his finger, mother would begin to laugh so that the windowpanes trembled. Once Louis decided to play the noble robber Zorro, and he deftly threw a lasso around the neck of one of his friends. The boy miraculously survived. After that, the mother's patience snapped and Louis was sent to earn money.
Louis de Funes often mentioned her in his interviews, arguing. that she was the first to teach him how to play comedy.
On October 25, 1957, Leonor died. That day, Louis played in the play, and learning about the death of his mother, he did not consider it possible to disrupt it.
Marie (Mina)
In 1906, Marie (nicknamed Mina) was born. Mina turned into a lovely graceful woman. Couturier Jacques Ames even invited her to work as a fashion model. Married to a pilot, she fell in love with the fashionable actor Jean Mur and went with him to Madrid, where she frivolously introduced him to her relatives as her husband.
Mina was bossy and was bossy with her little brother Louis.
Charles
Charles de Funes was born in 1910. His biography is short, since during the Second World War in 1939 he died from a burst from a German machine gun. Louis de Funes took the loss hard. Their childhood games were connected with their brother, they traveled on bicycles part of France.
On January 27, 1944, the son of Louis, Patrick de Funes, was born. Doctor by profession, author of bold and extraordinary publications on medicine. Distinctive features of Patrick's handwriting are the unique humor and irony with which he approaches both medical issues and the facts of his own father's biography.
In 1977 he married Dominique Vatren, has three children - daughter Julie and twin sons Adrian and Charles. Having starred in six films with his famous father, Olivier, by his own admission, realized that acting was not his calling. After a number of successful roles, he left the cinema and became an Air France passenger flight pilot. It currently operates the Airbus A320 of the French airline Air Inter.
She was born on July 27, 1944 in Paris, in the family of an assistant director, director and screenwriter Francois Gira.
Mother - Maria de Funes, sister of the great French comedian Louis de Funes.
She made her film debut in Raoul André's Ces messieurs de la gachette (Nicole Peletier, 1969). She played one of the main roles - Emily in Michel Deville's film "Raphael the Debauchee" (1971).
Best acting work - Valentina Rosselli in the erotic thriller Baba Yaga (1973) directed by Italian director Corrado Farina.
Filmed on TV. Isabelle de Funes has 10 acting jobs in film and television, five music albums.
After 1978, she did not act in films.
She was married to French actor Michel Duchossois.
The screen wife of Louis de Funes was Claude Jensak, who was chosen for this role by his real wife, Jeanne de Funes (1914-2015). They say that behind every great man is a great woman, and this assumption is absolutely correct.
Jeanne de Funes: biography, years of life
Joan Barthelew was born on the first of February 1914. Diligent and romantic, the young girl was brought up in a respectable, respectable and fairly wealthy family, which was proud of its family ties with the writer Guy de Maupassant. She lost her parents very early, her father was killed by a shell at the front in 1918, and soon after this tragedy her mother also died, unable to survive the death of her husband.
Jeanne de Funes (photos in her youth and not only clearly demonstrate how strong-willed this woman was), together with her brother named Pierre, came under the care of her grandmother on her father's side. During the holidays, she stayed with her aunt Marie, wife of Comte Charles de Maupassant. At times in the spring, they would leave Paris and enjoy nature and solitude on their magnificent estate, where the Château de Clermont was located.
Personal agent and beloved wife
On September 22, 1943, the wedding (second in a row) of Louis de Funes and the granddaughter of the famous Maupassant, Jeanne, took place. The future comedian not only loved his wife, he was proud of her, respected her and always considered her opinion. During the war, Louis was not yet famous, he worked as a modest theater extra.
Jeanne was happy to do household chores, gave birth to two sons, but over time she became more and more interested in her husband's career. The imperious wife was sincerely indignant when impudent impresarios used the actor for their own purposes and profited from his talent. In 1957, Monsieur de Funes announced that his beloved wife would henceforth be his personal agent, and he was the winner.
Influential wife and faithful companion
Jeanne Augustine Barthelemy de Maupassant, a descendant of the famous French writer, married Louis de Funes a year after they met at a jazz school in Paris. His wife supported him from the very beginning, when he was not yet a world-famous comic star of French cinema.
Jeanne de Funès was actively involved in her husband's career, often giving the right advice in choosing films, and even occasionally getting involved in discussions of the production with the directors, which often irritated them. As a screenwriter, she often reworked the scripts of films in which her husband played. She also chose his on-screen wife for him, with whom Louis appeared in more than one film. Only the wise Joan could control him and calm him down when needed.
After the death of her husband
After the death of Louis, Jeanne de Funès lived in her apartment on the rue de Montpensier overlooking the gardens of the royal palace in Paris. Louis gave his wife two sons - Patrick and Olivier, who often visited Jeanne after the death of their father. In the last years of his life, Louis lived with his wife in the castle of Clermont, it was a property that belonged to Jeanne's family. Later, she, along with her sons, initiated the opening of a museum in the castle in 2013, dedicated to Louis de Funes.
Jeanne de Funes, whose photo with her husband can be seen in the article, died on Saturday March 7, 2015 at the age of 101. Her funeral took place on Thursday, March 12, at Saint-Roch Church in Paris. The next day, she was already in the basement of the cemetery in the Loire Atlantique, where her husband, Louis de Funes, was buried in 1983. The funeral ceremony was attended by sons, seven grandchildren and other members of the de Funes family, there was little interest from the media. It is possible that the family itself did not want this, hiding Jeanne's death from journalists. They began to remember the wife of the great comedian after her death, and during her lifetime she was more likely a shadow of her husband than a media personality.
Expensive gift
In 1966, Louis gives his wife a truly royal gift - the Maupasan family castle, where Jeanne spent a lot of time as a child and which was very dear to her. Such a gesture cost the actor 830,000 francs, which was an incredible amount for that time. There were 365 windows alone in the castle, and large households were also attached. extensions and a huge area where a park of thirty hectares was located. Here they lived together until the death of the actor. The family could no longer afford to maintain the estate, and in 1986 it was sold.
Initially, a clinic was built there, later exhibitions and conferences were held in the castle, and in 2005 the estate was bought by an investor who divided it into 40 apartments. Part of the building was given over to the museum, where they regularly conduct a tour "In the footsteps of Louis ...", during which you can see how the great comedian lived, as well as visit his favorite greenhouse.
De Funes: the legacy of a wise woman
Louis was never Alain Delon, but he was never deprived of the attention of women, but this did not prevent him from being faithful to his wise and beloved wife. Jeanne de Funes, whose biography is closely intertwined with the biography of her famous husband, left behind two sons. Patrick became a radiologist, and Olivier, who first tried to find himself in acting, played for a while in the theater, and even played in six films with his popular father.
40 years in the shadow of her husband
Everyone knows Louis de Funes, but why then is there so little information about his beloved wife? She was his constant companion, but she always remained in the shadows. Perhaps, without his beloved second wife Jeanne, the famous comedian would not have achieved such dizzying success and recognition in world cinema. She was a devoted friend, ally, adviser and real support for her husband, supported him at all times, inspired and contributed in every possible way to success in his creative career.
Louis de Funes is a French actor, film director and screenwriter. The greatest French comedian of the twentieth century, personifying cunning, hysteria, absurdity and greed on the screen.
Louis Germain David de Funes de Galars, whom viewers know as the greatest comedian of world cinema under the name of Louis de Funes, was born on July 31, 1914 in one of the communes of the French department of Hauts-de-Seine, which is 8 kilometers from Paris. The parents of the future actor in 1904 moved to France from Seville, because their relatives opposed this union. Carlos Luis de Galarza is Louis' father. It is known that Carlos received the specialty of a lawyer, but, having left Spain, he had to master a new profession - a diamond cutter.
Louis de Funes showed many talents from early childhood. The boy was fluent in French, English and Spanish, drew, was artistic and also played the piano. But the small stature and hilarious grimaces that Louis liked to make did not allow him to be taken seriously.
The boy was nicknamed Fufu. When Louis grew up, he got a job as a pianist in one of the institutions of Pigalle, a district of Paris famous for its Moulin Rouge cabaret and brothels. Visitors loved this little musician for his virtuoso performance of jazz compositions and funny grimacing.
When Paris was occupied by German troops, Louis de Funes got a job as a solfeggio teacher at a music school. After the end of the war, the future comedian decided to try to act in films. This has long been recommended by friends and acquaintances. Louis de Funes attended the drama courses of the French actor Rene Simon in the pre-war years. Now it's time to put the acquired knowledge into practice.
Movies
A cinematic biography of Louis de Funes began in 1945. The aspiring artist starred in Jean Stelly's film The Barbizon Temptation. The film did not bring Louis tangible success. As well as the following pictures, where the artist appeared in episodes and supporting roles. Only in 1958, 13 years after his debut, Louis de Funes woke up famous. Viewers began to recognize the photo of the artist far beyond the borders of their native France. This happened after the release of the picture "Not Caught - Not a Thief", which is better known as "Blero". The actor played the main character in this comedy - a poacher named Bléro. Soon, comedies will become the main works in the career of a French film actor.
Louis de Funes in the movie "Not Caught - Not a Thief" The peak of the acting career of Louis de Funes falls on the 60s. Several films were released every year, invariably bringing a new wave of love and fame to the comedian. The sympathy of the audience brought Louis and a trilogy about Commissioner Juve and Fantômas. The comedian brilliantly played the close-minded commissar. At first it was assumed that there would be 10 episodes, but after the third part, called Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard, the popularity began to decline, and director Andre Hunebel decided to limit himself to three episodes.
Louis de Funes in the movie "Fantômas" The release of the next two comedies with the participation of the comedian was marked by the same success. Pictures "Razinya" and "Big Walk" were watched by viewers around the world. Louis de Funes was idolized and adored everywhere. Nevertheless, real fame came to the French actor after films about the adventures of the gendarme Cruchot. "The Gendarme of Saint-Tropez" was the first of 6 films that appeared on the screen.
The Soviet audience remembered other roles of the actor in films. The films "Mr. Septim's Restaurant", "Oscar", "Frozen", "Man Orchestra" and "Megalomaniac" received special recognition. De Funes preferred to shoot with a constant cast of actors, directors and cameramen. De Funes' favorite director is Jean Giraud, who is the creator of the serial film about the gendarme Cruchot. Favorite partner on the set - Bourvil.
Louis de Funes in the movie "The Big Walk" In March 1973, the artist was awarded the country's highest award: the Order of the Legion of Honor of France. The actor is still actively filmed. But in 1975, Louis de Funes had a heart attack. The first was immediately followed by the second. Doctors categorically forbade the actor to work. The artist settled in the ancient castle of Château de Clermont near Nantes. The film actor began to lead a quiet and measured life. For some time, Louis dug in the garden and became interested in breeding new varieties of roses. One of them was even named after the artist.
Louis de Funes in the movie "The Miser" But the actor, who was seething with energy, could not live long as a recluse. And when Louis de Funes received from the director Claude Zidi the script for the new comedy Wing or Leg, he could not resist and agreed to shoot. Several other great comedies followed. The film Cabbage Soup, released in 1981, was one such film. The painting "The Gendarme and the Gendarmes" is the last work in the career of a French actor, which appeared on the screens in 1982.
Louis de Funes in the movie "Wing or Leg" The career of Louis de Funes developed slowly, although the Frenchman managed to star in more than a hundred films. Louis de Funes himself spoke about the acting profession in the cinema as follows:
“An actor, like a musician, must play every day. Cinema and theater are our scales, the audience is an inexhaustible source of energy.”
Personal life
A few years before the war, Louis de Funes got married. The first wife of Louis was Germaine Louise Elodie Carroyer. In this marriage, the first-born Daniel was born. But in 1942 the marriage broke up.
The personal life of Louis de Funes improved a year later, when the actor met the great-niece of the legendary author of the novel "Bel Ami" Guy de Maupassant. Jeanne Augustine de Barthélemy de Maupassant worked as a secretary at a music school where Louis taught solfeggio during the war. They lived together until the death of the French comedian.
In this 40-year marriage, de Funes had two sons - Patrick and Olivier. The sons of the artist did not follow in the footsteps of their father: Olivier chose the profession of a pilot, and Patrick became a doctor. Friends of the French artist have repeatedly claimed that, even after becoming a millionaire, Louis personally checked all the accounts on which he had funds. I bought products exclusively in cheap markets, and also did not miss the opportunity to bargain.
And he always carried with him a bunch of keys from all kinds of cabinets, doors and drawers: he was afraid that things would not be stolen from him. The sons were irritated by the father's greed. Nevertheless, Olivier and Patrick remember their father as a decent and peaceful person, with whom they never got bored.
Death
In 1975, the actor suffered two heart attacks, the artist moved to a country estate of the 17th century, located near Nantes.
In January 1983, the life of Louis de Funes ended. The film actor died of a heart attack. After the death of Louis de Funes, the castle in which the actor lived for the last few years was sold. Shortly before his death, the great Frenchman said to his wife:
“My best joke will be my funeral. I have to play in such a way that everyone laughs without ceasing.
Filmography
- 1946 - Six Lost Hours
- 1950 - Street without law
- 1951 - Scarlet Rose
- 1956 - Short Mind
- 1958 - Not caught - not a thief
- 1963 - The Lucky Ones
- 1965 - Razinya
- 1966 - Fantomas v Scotland Yard
- 1966 - Big walk
- 1966 - Mr. Septim's Restaurant
- 1970 - Orchestra Man
- 1971 - Megalomania
- 1978 - Gendarme and aliens
- 1976 - Wing or leg
- 1982 - Gendarme and gendarmes
The famous commissioner Juve from Fantômas, beloved by Russian viewers, and the cunning mafioso Saroyan from Razini, in real life, was a completely different person. He was distinguished by a peaceful, cheerful character, decency, love for his family and children. The famous French comedian Louis de Funes did not suffer from hysteria, ardor and a penchant for insidious attacks. His loved ones felt with him like behind a stone wall. Of course, the wife of Louis de Funes, Jeanne Augustine, provided them with most of this security.
Her full name is Jeanne Augustine de Barthelemy de Maupassant and she was the great-niece of the famous writer. Jeanne and her future husband met in Paris during the German occupation in 1942 and lived together for 40 years. Shortly before this, Funes divorced his first wife, Germaine Louise Elodie Carroyer, whose family life did not work out. There is evidence that Germain gave her consent to the divorce only in exchange for Louis' promise to never see their common son Daniel. There were also rumors that the actor secretly, but saw the boy, but, in any case, all his biographers do not pay much attention to the existence of this child in the life of Funes.
Jeanne Augustine and Louis married in September 1943, when he was working as a jazz pianist in nightclubs, and she later recalled that she did not know a more talented and charming musician. In order to support his family, Funes got a job as a storekeeper. This made it possible to feed his wife and son Patrick, who was born in 1944. The second son, Olivier, was born in 1949. After the end of the war, in 1946, Funes starred in his first film. His film career developed slowly and the actor gained fame only in 1958, playing a major role in the comedy Not Caught - Not a Thief.
Already after 1960, Louis de Funes began to act in 3-4 films annually, and then even more often. Incredible world fame comes to him, marked in 1974 by the highest French award - the Order of the Legion of Honor. All these years, the actor lived in complete love and harmony with his charming Jeanne, who became for him not only his wife and friend, but also his comrade-in-arms in cinema. She was engaged in many aspects of her husband's creative activity. In particular, she found an ideal companion for him in many films - actress Claude Jansac. It happened that she was paid for being on the set next to Louis, as director Jules Borcon did.
In private life, Funes adored plants and animals with which he surrounded his family in the ancient castle of Château de Clermont near Nantes. He touchingly cared for his children and grandchildren and until the end of his life was delighted with his wife. Their mutual respect, unanimity and spiritual closeness were later described in the book by their sons as one of the best memories of childhood and youth. In 1983, in the arms of Louis de Funes' wife, Jeanne Augustine, the great comedian of France died of a heart attack. His sons chose their own path in life. Although Olivier starred in several films with his father in his youth, he decided to become a pilot. Patrick wanted to be a doctor.
July 31, 2014, 14:06This short (only 1 m 64 cm), but truly great man walked towards his glory for a very long time, walked stubbornly and achieved his goal - he achieved popularity and prosperity, became the leading comedian of the French screen, one of the symbols of the nation. He is known and loved all over the world, and in France his birthday is a national holiday.
The incredible perseverance and dedication of this brave clown, the energy with which, until the end of his days, he devoted himself to the profession, on the screen and on the stage, is an example of high acting dignity and vitality.
Carlos-Louis de Funes de Galarza (this is the full name of the actor) was born on July 31, 1914 in the Parisian suburb of Courbevoie, in a family of Spanish immigrants, the offspring of a Seville count family. But - alas! - a hereditary title did not save the family from a very meager existence. A descendant of Spanish aristocrats, in his youth Fu-fu (that was his name in childhood and the French also called their pet) dreamed of becoming a musician or an actor - let's say in advance - both succeeded.
His father Hispan Carlos de Funes de Galarza was a descendant of a Spanish-Portuguese aristocratic family from Seville. He ran a small jewelry store in the suburbs of Paris. The temperamental Madame Leonor de Funes reigned supreme in the house. Louis, her favorite, who knew how to make his mother laugh to the point of colic, was driven out for pranks from everywhere where he, growing up, tried to earn money. The boy did not lose heart, fished in the Seine and enthusiastically copied the antics of his beloved Chaplin. He did not tell his parents about his burning desire to act - he was afraid that they would forbid him to think about a career as an actor. De Funes spent his young years fooling around, making faces at classmates and parodying teachers.
Here is just one sketch on the "school" theme. "... Mademoiselle Sauvange, a colorless, dry person, breaks down, as usual, at the twenty-fifth minute of the lesson: "Funes, get out of the classroom!" didn’t do anything wrong ... "In the class - an explosion of laughter. In the way the hero of the scene stretches his neck and shakes his chin, everyone recognizes the hated math. Louis shows a striking inability to exact sciences. He does not know how to add fractions, cannot distinguish from the hypotenuse and with great difficulty solves the simplest equation with one unknown. In order not to look like a complete idiot in the eyes of his friends, Louis puts on a show from each of his approaches to the blackboard. Behind the teacher, he grimace and bulge his eyes like a madman. "
Louis quenched his thirst for self-expression at the Lyceum, on the student theater stage. He joked both at home and in the store. Without humor and clowning, the young man could not live a day.
In 1939, due to poor health, de Funes was released from military service - with a height of 1 meter 64 cm, he weighed only 55 kg. A year later, Louis nevertheless ended up in a military camp - here he entertained the soldiers with the performance of popular songs - even then he played the piano well.
Vulnerable and impressionable, actors can be ruthless towards their colleagues - Catherine Deneuve on de Funes: "No one would want to have this dwarf in bed." However, the star was either mistaken or spoke on its own behalf - Louis loved women and they reciprocated. It was only at first that the girls avoided little Louis. In his youth, Fu-fu was in love with a neighbor, actress Elina Labourdette, but she did not even look in his direction. The brothel is the place where de Funes freed himself from complexes and grief - he got his first sexual experience with a prostitute. They say that since then, Louis has forever remained a cynic - he was looking not for love, but for pleasure. Working as a pianist on Pigalle Square, he often left his entire salary with corrupt women.
De Funes married very early - at 22. Wife - Germaine Louise Elodie Carroyer, gave him a son - Daniel. But this marriage lasted only six years. At the end of 1942 they divorced. During the war, Daniel takes refuge with his mother in Clermont-Ferrand, while his father stays in the capital, where he is a jazz pianist in nightclubs.
With first wife Germaine
It is known that the father visited his son in secret from his new family, passing on to him his love for cinema and drawing, bringing oranges and other gifts. But the connection between Daniel and his father is interrupted when he was 11 years old. Daniel attended his father's performances, his premieres. But still remained in the shadows. When Louis de Funès died of a heart attack on January 27, 1983, Daniel was neither notified nor invited to the funeral, he was in pain...! He hears about his father's death on the radio. "It's good that I still managed to lead the life I wanted," says Daniel in his interview.
And a year after the divorce, in one of the drama studios, Louis met the aspiring actress Jeanne Augustine de Barthelemy de Maupassant, the granddaughter (great-niece) of Guy de Maupassant. On September 22, 1943, they got married. Louis took care of his wife as best he could - in Nazi-occupied Paris, he tenaciously held on to the place of a storekeeper, thanks to which he could eat tolerably, feed his pregnant wife and continue his studies :) in theater schools. In November 1944, the couple had a son, Patrick.
With his second wife Jeanne
As often happens, the life of the future comedian was not very fun. After the war, de Funes was a window dresser in a department store, a tinsmith, an accountant, a draftsman, a photographer, a traveling salesman and a furrier - he earned his bread and studied. He performed in cabarets, played in experimental theaters, recited, sang, danced, and, of course, made people laugh ... and all this was almost on bare enthusiasm. Louis participated in theatrical extras, ran from the stage to the bar, where he sat down at the piano. Finally found a job in the theater. He was gradually invited to radio, television and cinema.
At first, Zhanna was engaged only in the house, but over time she increasingly interfered in her husband's career and was indignant at how brazenly the impresario used the artist for their own purposes. In 1957, Louis said: "From now on, you are my impresario!" And I didn't guess. Jeanne de Funes, for example, did not like that her husband was chosen as a partner by tall plump aunts - it seemed to the producers that Louis looked funnier against their background. But Jeanne was smarter. Once she introduced her husband to a friend, a beautiful actress: “She will be your screen wife!” They starred in the ten most successful films of de Funes, including a series of comedies about the gendarme Cruchot, and everyone remembered this couple, many even thought that they were husband and wife in life.
"It was my mother who made my father what he became," says Patrick. - She was for him both a director, an impresario and even a film partner. Not a single director could influence his father like his mother. During the filming of the film "Not Caught - Not a Thief", which made him famous, director Jules Borcon, in order to cope with his father's temperament, decided to invite his mother, even agreeing to pay her for shooting days. And his calculation turned out to be correct, because the father was removed only for her and could not work if she was not around. They lived for each other."
In cinema, de Funes made his debut immediately after the war. He filmed a lot, but he got microscopic episodes - such ones did not linger in the memory of the audience. Over a decade and a half of work in cinema, by 1960, about a hundred portrait sketches had accumulated in the acting gallery of Louis. Perhaps only in the dilogy "Dad, mother, a servant and me" in 1954, the quarrelsome neighbor of the main characters was first noticed. Four more years later (when only memories remained of Fu-fu's dark hair), Louis finally played his first "solo part" - a role in the film "Not Caught - Not a Thief" by Yves Robert. The poacher and rogue Bléro opened with almost a master key the very cherished door that led the actor to the pinnacle of fame.
Screen "wife" Claudie Genzac
Later, while starring in the comedy Climbing a Tree, de Funes will complain to his partner in the film, the daughter of his idol Geraldine Chaplin: “I waited too long in the waiting room of His Majesty Success, I knocked for too long and unsuccessfully, until they finally let me in. .."
However, in an interview given by the actor in 1971, one can also read such a confession: “I do not regret the slow development of my career. This slowness helped me to understand my profession thoroughly. the roles that I was assigned. So I acquired some comic baggage, without which I could not have made a career. If I started again, I would not have abandoned my path. "
The popularity of "Uncaught" provided de Funes with participation in new films in the same role as a fussy rogue. In the early 1960s, world cinema saw a resurgence of interest in screwball comedy with elements of buffoonery, parody, and absurd humor. The character of Louis turns out to be at this time, by the way. The pinnacle of de Funes' screen success is the picture of the middle of the decade.
These are, first of all, two films by Gerard Ury, where Louis worked in tandem with Bourville ("Razinya" and "The Big Walk"), the beginning of a movie series about the adventures of the provincial gendarme Cruchot and the unforgettable trilogy "Fantômas". It would be useful to note that in the Soviet box office the films of de Funes were given a "green light". The best tapes were on our screens, the phenomenal Frenchman was brilliantly "translated" into Russian by Vladimir Kenigson, who dubbed the comedian.
At home, in 1968, Louis de Funes was recognized as the best actor. In terms of fees (2.5 million francs per film), he surpassed all stellar colleagues (not a trifle for a man who could not forget his impoverished youth). However, Fu-fu's career soon showed the first signs of a decline. With the death of Bourville in 1970, Louis lost his best partner. In several subsequent comedies, the actor comically "in the void", it seemed that his virtuoso-grotesque facial expressions become an end in itself, the only core of the films in which de Funes participates.
At the height of his fame, he gained rare power for a movie star over screenwriters, directors and producers. All of them became dependent on the mood and whims of Louis, the state of his health or his plans for the next weekend.
But the audience still adored their idol. The weekly "Express" wrote: "For 20 years, de Funes has been treating compatriots, helping them to get rid of the shortcomings that he masterfully denounces with his clowning."
The viewer loves comic characters. Even the most notorious on-screen rogues are cute handsomes, lyricists and good-natured people at heart. The copy created by Louis de Funes is a bright and bold exception. Fu-fu's character is small, antipathetic, stupid, greedy, absurd, conceited, unscrupulous, a kind of cunning who always turns out to be a fool. The image found by the actor is a continuation of the tradition of the Italian comedy of masks and medieval French farce.
The plasticity of the actor is emphatically caricatured, he does not seek to evoke even a shadow of sympathy for his hero. The comedian stubbornly, furiously, aggressively depicted on the screen the same national, social type - a satirical embodiment of human weaknesses and vices. Such is his commissioner Juve, a self-satisfied and suspicious bureaucrat, now and then falling into a rage, because the reality he faces is not arranged at all the way he would like. Peerless are these outbursts of crazy energy, interrupted by a sudden stupor at the moment of the next failure. The first policeman of the country freezes, sweating from mental stress, and, bulging his eyes, says illuminedly:
I got it!
It was Fantomas!
The audience is crying with laughter, the viewer can not pay with love for these moments of liberation from the tedious seriousness of the face, for the happiness of laughing plenty at this fool, and at the same time at himself.
Fashions and trends changed, but the "possessed" de Funes remained the same and one could understand him: too much effort, too many years, it cost him to find this note, this color, this role. Find and wait until they call, when they look, when they laugh ...
Shortly after this significant event, a black streak began in the life of the actor. The first heart attack happened in the spring of 1975 on stage, during the performance "Waltz of the Bullfighters". A few months later, already in the hospital - the second. “This is probably to make me better understand the first one,” de Funes tried to joke. He was ill for a long time, journalists almost forgot about him. The directors were afraid to invite an actor whose heart could stop at any moment, and the public refused to believe that a clown could even have a heart. Louis interrupted his work in theater and cinema. Offended by the silence of his colleagues, the comedian sold his apartment in Paris, went to his castle de Clermont (Maupassant's legacy), near Nantes, on the banks of the Loire, to his favorite roses, to solitude and peace.
Chateau de Clermont - country estate of Louis de Funes (after his death it was sold
The silence was interrupted by the call of Claude Zidi, who offered a job in the film "Wing or Leg". De Funes agreed, but the entire period of filming remained under medical supervision.
Weakened not only health - over the years, and the temper of de Funes completely deteriorated. He often quarreled with fellow artists. Louis became greedy and grouchy, like his characters. Now Fu-fu had fun only in front of the camera, the comedian looked sullenly at life. Only his beloved granddaughter, the daughter of Olivier's youngest son, who, in childhood and adolescence, starred in several of his father's films, could only make de Funes smile.
Louis could not stand acting gatherings and feasts: "What kind of nonsense does not a person say with a glass in his hand." It was as if he lived not in our time, but in the 19th century. He reluctantly drove a car, as in his youth he fished, grew roses. "I do not like society, I have few friends. All my free time, resting from fun, I spend with my family."
In recent years, Louis has not acted in film - the bank of strength, preparing for the only role that he dreamed of all his life. Dreamed for so long. that he did not trust anyone to direct this picture, the adaptation of Molière's "The Miser", becoming for the first and last time on both sides of the camera (we add that de Funes was the author of the scripts for several of his comedies), calling on Jean Giraud as assistants.
The role of Harpagon, had it come twenty years earlier, could have been the beginning of a completely different biography. The film was lukewarmly received by the press and did not do well at the box office. Nevertheless, Funes' outstanding contribution to French and world cinema in 1980 was awarded the honorary César Award.
De Funes's favorite director and, perhaps, the only friend among the representatives of this profession was Jean Giraud, with whom they made all the films about the gendarme from Saint-Tropez, as well as "The Big Vacation" in 1967 and "Cabbage Soup" in 1981. After the death of a comrade, de Funes lost interest in life. Stopped checking bills and taking medication. He did not invite anyone, did not answer phone calls. It sometimes seemed to Jeanne that Louis did not remember the name of his granddaughter ... The only person whom Louis still trusted was the gardener Victor. The two chatted leisurely about roses, proper watering, and new fertilizers. Sometimes they went fishing together...
A week before his death, Louis said to his wife: "I know what my best joke will be" - "What?" - "My funeral. I have to play it so that they laugh."
In January 1983, sitting on a bench in the garden among the flower beds, de Funes turned to the gardener Victor: “I don’t know why my legs are so heavy. The closer I come to the threshold, the further it is from me ...” That evening the actor had a strong heart ache, but he did not complain, he only noticed that he had probably caught the flu somewhere. In the morning, Louis went out to Jeanne with the words: "I miss being alone in my room ..." These were his last words.
Headstone on the grave of Louis de Funes
After himself, de Funes left two sons: Olivier de Funes, a pilot of the Air France airline (his father wanted his son to become a professional actor after several films in which he starred with his son, but Olivier was against it, wishing to devote his life to the career of a pilot ), and Patrick de Funes, a doctor by profession.
Olivier de Funes. Shot from the movie "The Big Vacation"
Book cover Patrick de Funes
