Francis Blanche
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- July 20, 1921
- Died
- July 6, 1974 (aged 52)
- Birthplace
- Paris, France
Biography
François Jean Blanche, known as "Francis Blanche" (20 July 1921 – 6 July 1974) was a French actor, singer, humorist and author. He was a very popular figure on stage, radio and in films, during the 1950s and 1960s. His two daughters, Barbara & Dominique, are artists with their studios in Eze. Blanche was born in an artistic family, mainly of stage actors—including his father Louis Blanche and his uncle, Emmanuel Blanche, who was a painter—. He completed his secondary schooling at fourteen, the youngest in France to do so at the time. In the 1940s and 1950s, Blanche was part of Robert Dhéry's theatrical company Les Branquignols, with whom he played in the film Ah! Les belles bacchantes, starring Robert Dhéry, Colette Brosset (Dhéry's then-wife), and Louis de Funès; directed by Jean Loubignac in 1954. Blanche teamed up with Pierre Dac to form a comic duo best remembered for Le Sâr Rabindranath Duval, a sketch about a phony and nonsensical Indian clairvoyant and guru (1957). They also created a popular and equally nonsensical radiophonic series, loosely based on a highly improbable espionage and conspiration plot, Malheur aux barbus, which was broadcast on Paris Inter in 213 episodes from 1951 to 1952. The same plot and characters were revived on Europe 1 in a series called Signé Furax, enjoying no less than 1,034 daily episodes between 1956 and 1960. Both broadcasts were phenomenal audience successes in the pre-television era. Blanche was also renowned for broadcasting phone pranks, in which he entertained listeners by making the most improbable situations sound plausible. He wrote poems, and the lyrics of 673 songs. On stage, he acted in Tartuffe and Néron and, in 1955, Chevalier du Ciel, an operetta by Luis Mariano at the Gaîté-Lyrique theatre. Blanche also enjoyed a successful cinematographic career, both as an actor and scriptwriter. He appeared as a hard-headed German colonel ("Obersturmführer Schulz") opposite Brigitte Bardot in Babette s'en va-t-en guerre (1959). He was one of the favourite actors of French filmmaker Georges Lautner, and played Maître Folace (a shady solicitor counselling a colourful gangster mob) in Les Tontons flingueurs (1963). Blanche also appeared in Boris Vassilief's Les Barbouzes (1964). He delighted in parodying classical music, adapting famous works such as Schubert's "Die Forelle" (The Trout) into a crazy and slightly risqué piece about a 16-year-old romantic girl obsessed with Schubert's song to the point of giving birth to a live trout while performing it on her piano. Similarly, he turned Beethoven's 5th Symphony into a lengthy and quite repetitive musical glorification of the clothes peg and its fictitious inventor, Jérémie-Victor Opdebec. Blanche died at the age of 52, from a heart attack with a background of untreated Type 1 diabetes. He is buried in Èze cemetery. Source: Article "Francis Blanche" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
Les 100 vies de Francis Blanche
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Pierre Dac et Francis Blanche : Le Meilleur du Parti d'en Rire
Movie · as Lui-même
Comiques de toujours (Vol. 1 à 4)
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
A Whale That Had a Toothache
Movie · as Francis
No Pockets in a Shroud
Movie · as Nathaël Grissom
Say it with Flowers
Movie · as Gérard Rollain
By the Blood of Others
Movie · as Doctor
OK Patron
Movie · as Victor Hutin, Sophie's father
France, Incorporated
Movie · as Pierre, the perverted financier
I've Had It
Movie · as Mr. de Chatiez
The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot
Movie · as Wanderer
La Dernière Bourrée à Paris
Movie · as Gaston Payrac
I. You. They.
Movie · as Darbon, le galeriste
Racconti romani di una ex-novizia
Movie · as Pietro l'Aretino
Le Solitaire
Movie · as Norbert
The Eroticist
Movie · as padre Scirer
Scandal Man
Movie · as Paluche
The Terror with Cross-Eyes
Movie · as Commissioner Pigna
Midi trente
TV · as Self · 2 eps
The Great Java
Movie · as Auguste Kougloff / Augustin Colombani
La Grande Maffia
Movie · as Modeste Miette
Are You Engaged to a Greek Sailor or an Airline Pilot?
Movie · as Maurice Gombaud
Il furto è l'anima del commercio!?...
Movie · as Sigfrid
Qu'est-ce qui fait courir les crocodiles ?
Movie · as Hector Grogenol
Les Jambes en l'air
Movie · as Hugon
Samedi soir
TV · as Self · 4 eps
The Stud
Movie · as Tax collector Dupuis
Alice au pays des merveilles
Movie · as King of hearts
Adieu Berthe
Movie · as Léo Bertold
Ces messieurs de la gâchette
Movie · as Marco Lombardi
Erotissimo
Movie · as Le polyvalent
Les gros malins
Movie · as Francis Bertolde aka 'Le book'
Poussez pas grand-père dans les cactus
Movie · as Alphonse Ramier / Al Gregor
Aux frais de la princesse
Movie · as Achille
Faites donc plaisir aux amis
Movie · as Maximiliano
Le bourgeois gentil mec
Movie · as Spinosa
Un merveilleux parfum d'oseille
Movie · as Loïc de Kerfuntel
The Big Wash
Movie · as Doctor Loupioc
The Men in the Family
Movie · as Strumberger
Salut Berthe !
Movie · as Passerby with the pipe (uncredited)
À bout portant
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Rita the Field Marshal
Movie · as Captain Hans Vogel
The Big Grasshopper
Movie · as Gédéon
Loose in the Trigger
Movie · as La Prudence
Order of the Daisy
Movie · as L'inspecteur Maurice Leloup
Le canard en fer blanc
Movie · as Le docteur Grego
The Oldest Profession
Movie · as The Doctor (segment "Aujourd'hui")
Belle de Jour
Movie · as Mr. Adolphe
The Great Gadget
Movie · as Copec
Deux Romains en Gaule
Movie · as Le druide inventeur de la potion d'invisibilité
Les malabars sont au parfum
Movie · as Ivanov
The Sleeping Sentinel
Movie · as Constant
Les enquiquineurs
Movie · as Monsieur Achille Eloy
Pas de caviar pour tante Olga
Movie · as Dufour
The Real Bargain
Movie · as Paul Souflé
Under Your Hat
Movie · as Mario l'enchanteur
Les baratineurs
Movie · as Louis Dujardin
Le Bonheur conjugal
TV · as Le patron du restaurant · 1 ep
Male Hunt
Movie · as Nino Papatakis
The Great Spy Chase
Movie · as Boris Vassiliev
Champagne for Savages
Movie · as Francis
The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers
Movie · as Mr. Humlaupt (segment "L'Homme qui vendit la tour Eiffel")
Dandelions by the Roots
Movie · as Absalon
The Big Scare
Movie
Les Pieds nickelés
Movie · as Commissaire Lenoir
Les Gorilles
Movie · as Félix
Requiem pour un caïd
Movie · as Émile aka 'le Boxeur'
Jaloux comme un tigre
Movie · as Chauffeur
Clémentine chérie
Movie · as Nuisance at the Miss ceremony (uncredited)
Actualités télérévisées
Movie · as Presenter
The Black Tulip
Movie · as Plantin
Chance at Love
Movie · as Adjutant (segment "Chance du guerrier, La")
L'échelle
Movie · as Breton
Crooks in Clover
Movie · as Maître Folace
Light-Fingered George
Movie · as Chief Insp. Cucherat
Sweet and Sour
Movie · as Franz
People in Luck
Movie · as M. Bricheton (segment "Le Repas gastronomique")
The Virgins
Movie · as Mr. De Brétevielle
Who Stole the Body?
Movie · as Édouard
Les Gros Bras
Movie · as Mr. Pédro Andromèze
The Abominable Man of Customs
Movie · as Arnakos
The Seventh Juror
Movie · as Le procureur général
Hitch-Hike
Movie · as le douanier belge
Snobs!
Movie · as Morloch
Tartarin de Tarascon
Movie · as Antoine Tartarin
The Vendetta
Movie · as Bartoli
The Hideout
Movie · as Edouard
Accroche-toi, y'a du vent!
Movie · as Capitano Fornace
Operation Gold Ingot
Movie · as Fellous
Long Live Henry IV... Long Live Love!
Movie · as Prior
House of Sin
Movie · as Blanchin
The Girl of a Thousand Months
Movie · as Commendator Borgioli
Romulus and the Sabines
Movie · as Mezio
Les Livreurs
Movie · as Félix
Le Olimpiadi dei mariti
Movie
Some Like It... Cold
Movie · as William Foster Valmorin, American
Love and the Frenchwoman
Movie · as Me Marcerou, avocat et ami du couple (segment "Le Divorce")
The Bear
Movie · as Chappuis
Long Live the Duke!
Movie
Little Girls and High Finance
Movie · as Bank manager
We Like It Cold
Movie · as von Krussendorf
Easy Come Easy Go
Movie · as Félix
Le pillole di Ercole
Movie · as Augusto
The Green Mare
Movie · as Ferdinand Haudouin
Too Late to Love
Movie · as Camille, le patron du bistrot
The Indestructible
Movie · as Francis Blanchard
Match contre la mort
Movie · as Mr. Pascal
The Motorcycle Cops
Movie · as His Excellency Curacagua
Babette Goes to War
Movie · as Schulz
Discorama
TV · as Self · 1 ep
The Little Professor
Movie · as General overseer
A Dog, A Mouse and a Sputnik
Movie · as Chazot
Toto in Paris
Movie · as Il maggiordomo (uncredited)
La Polka des menottes
Movie · as un voisin
Anyone Can Kill Me
Movie · as La Bonbonne
Honoré de Marseille
Movie · as Pasquale Marchetti
Life is beautiful
Movie · as un voisin
Cinépanorama
TV · as Self · 2 eps
Peek-a-boo
Movie · as Garibaldo Trouchet, le ténor / Un musicien
Trust Me!
Movie · as Nicolas
Midnight... Quai de Bercy
Movie · as M. Boulay, l'épicier libidineux
Good Enough to Eat
Movie · as Gilles
Ils ont vingt ans
Movie · as Michel Barbarin
The Sad Sack
Movie · as Jean du Bois d'Ombelles
The Killer is Listening
Movie · as Self
Frédérica
Movie · as Ami de Gilbert