If someone does not immediately understand which French actor will be discussed in this article, we must recall the gendarmes' stories beloved by most viewers of middle and older ages. Jean Lefebvre, the hero of our article, played a Landmine there. Each of his roles is a kind of small miracle, because he breathed life into his characters, gave them a piece of himself.
The beginning of life
On the third day of October 1919 in the town of Valenciennes (France) a little boy was born. He was given the name Jean. Thus began the biography of the great French actor, whom the whole world recognized under the name Jean Lefebvre. True, according to data from other sources, this event occurred a little later - in 1922.
At first, Jean dreamed of becoming a physician, but over time, the dream changed. During vocational training in medical wisdom, a young man begins to practice singing. In addition, the young Lefebvre falls in love with the theater and no longer imagines life without a stage.
From a new hobby to a profession for life
After the end of World War II, the future actor becomes a regular visitor to lectures on theatrical art, where Rene Simon taught. Jean's fellow practitioners were Pierre Mondi and Jacqueline Mayan. In addition, he was a student at the conservatory in his hometown and in Lille.
He began his career as a singer in the most ordinary cabaret. And the debut in the cinema, thanks to which millions of people recognized him, took place much later, when Jean Lefebvre was already thirty-three years old.
Meet Dery and Theater Debut
For several years, Jean Lefebvre, whose films are included in the treasury of French cinema, performed on various stages, changing Parisian restaurants one after another. He told witty sketches and worked on the same stage with Jean Richard and Darry Cole - the famous comedians of the time.
Lefebvre's favorite character in his youth was an ordinary simpleton from the people, often drunk. But this character worked out for him very easily, the actor literally got used to the image.
Once in one of the restaurants, the future celebrity of world cinema, Jean Lefebvre, made acquaintance with the French actor and director Robert Dery. The latter at one time managed to organize a theatrical-musical-comic troupe called Branquignols. Soon, these two dinosaurs of the French film industry found a common language, and Lefebvre became a full member of the troupe.
His debut in the shadow of the theater backstage began with a performance about Mr. Vineyards. A little later, after tiring and exhausting rehearsals, he played in New York one of the roles in the play of Robert Deri, "Feather of My Aunt." These works turned out to be of great help in his career as an actor, because they prompted him how to behave on stage, deliver lines, build scenes. The actor learned to literally instantly grasp the essence of what is happening, quickly get used to the role and remember long monologues.
Life in the cinema
For twenty years - from 1960 to 1980 - Jean Lefebvre, biography which is not too well known to most viewers, played the main and secondary roles in more than ninety films. Mostly in the genre of comedy, loved by many viewers.
He worked with some of the most famous directors of the twentieth century - Claude Vital, Serge Corber, Yves Robert, Jean Giraud Robert Lamur and others. And the partners of Lefebvre on the set were the stars of French cinema recognized and loved by the people: Jacqueline Bisset, Miou-Miou, Pierre Mondi, Louis de Funes, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Michel Galabret ...
For his long life, Jean Lefebvre managed to star in about one hundred and forty television and movies of several countries - France, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Austria, Canada. And in 2000, he even became a member of the jury of the International Film Festival held in Berlin.
For the most part, his roles were supporting roles. He was the same character who took cues from Michel Galabrue, Louis de Funes or Robert Lamour. His role in the movie can be called "typical, ordinary average Frenchman." The heroes of Lefebvre are always very gullible, naive, usually a little out of sorts. As a rule, their nose hangs sadly, and with their heavy eyelids they look like a battered dog.
Favorite Roles
One of the few films in which his role was the main one was called The Idiot in Paris, filmed in 1966. This name was laconic and precisely able to characterize the acting niche occupied by Lefebvre. The character of the great actor is a village fool named Gubi, whom not very good joker neighbors threw deadly drunk in the center of the capital. This role of Jean Lefebvre was one of the three most beloved by the French inhabitants of the heroes of this actor.
Two more roles from this three were in comic sagas, which in France enjoyed exactly the same love as Leonid Gaidai's comedies in Russia. In Jean Giraud's epic about the adventures of a gendarme from Saint-Tropez, Jean Lefebvre, whose photo was printed by all the newspapers and magazines of those decades, was the unlucky policeman Lucien Fouass. And in three films by Robert Lamur about the "Seventh Company" - about the fools who were lost during the German offensive in the summer of 1940 and constantly run away from captivity in order to be caught almost immediately - his character was the telephone operator Pitivier.
National actor
Replicas of Jean Lefebvre firmly entered urban folklore. The audience adored him, and critics ignored him, considering it the embodiment of vulgarity. The actor did not skimp on the response word. He stated that those who are awarded the title of laureates for the Cesar Prize should be determined only by the audience. He was outraged that comedies never participated in the Cannes festival.
Until his very old age, Jean Lefebvre was faithful to the Boulevard Theater. Each performance with his participation withstood about seven hundred performances. The actor managed to not only work in the cinema and theater, but also recorded records and led a stormy personal life, getting married four times.
Jean Lefebvre passed away on July 9, 2004 in Marrakesh. The blame was a heart attack. And the whole world, idolizing his talent, learned about this not from his family, as it usually happens, but from the owner of a restaurant where the actor loved to celebrate his birthdays ...
Such was the magnificent Jean Lefebvre. Actors of this generation have always been very attentive and respectful of their work, every movement on the stage or in the frame has been carefully verified and worked out. With each new character, they lived another life, unlike their own, but giving each character a piece of themselves.