Michel Cerro was born in the early twentieth century in the picturesque suburbs of Paris. He began his career as a lyceum student, and the young artist specialized in comedy sketches, which he co-wrote with a friend Jean Poiret. Known to a wide audience for participation in the classic films "Cage for Cranks" and "Libertine". But the most significant work in the filmography of the actor is the film "Belfegor - the ghost of the Louvre" based on the novel by A. Berned. In this project, Michel was lucky to collaborate with such eminent actors as Sophie Marceau, Frederic Difenthal, Julie Christie and Lionel Abelansky.
Beginning of a creative career
The legendary actor Michel Cerro was born in late January 1928 in the town of Brunoy (France). Despite the fact that his father devoted his whole life to the theater, the boy did not think about the career of the actor. The child liked the church chant, and he sang with pleasure in the local church choir, dreaming of getting dignity, becoming a Catholic priest.
However, by the will of fate, he nevertheless becomes a graduate of an ordinary lyceum and continues his studies in the capital, in the Drama Center. The future meter made several attempts to enter the conservatory of dramatic art, but each time his efforts were unsuccessful.
First movie roles
In the early 50s, a novice actor honed his skills on the stage of a cabaret theater, working in tandem with Jean Poiret, playing comedy sketches of his own composition.
The first movie roles, according to film critics, were generally a continuation of the work of a novice actor in a cabaret. Together with Robert Dery, he plays in the comedy musical “Ax, wonderful bacchana!”, After which he directs the movie “Beautiful American” and invites Cerro to star in comedy. Together with Jean Poiret, the actor starred in the melodrama "Assassins and Thieves."
An invaluable experience for a young talent becomes participation in the films "Chain Reaction" and "We Will Go to Deauville." The main role in the mentioned paintings was played by the unrivaled Louis de Funes, all other actors openly faded against it. Michelle Cerro in his memoirs called this period of joint work the best school of acting.
True triumph
The film’s film director Eduard Molinaro, the film adaptation of the eponymous performance by Jean Poiret, “The Cage for Eccentrics,” which was nominated for the Golden Globe, should be considered the first major achievement in the actor’s creative career. Michel Cerro played the role of Albena (aka the star of the travesty show Zaza Napoli), who is in a homosexual relationship with Renato, in which Hugo Tonyazzi reincarnated . Plots based on the clashes of immorality and morality are mostly spectacular. This comedy melodrama is a clear confirmation of this. The performing skills of the actor were highly appreciated, he received his first "Cesar" for this. Since the picture was phenomenal success, two years later the sequel comes out, in which the main roles are also played by Cerro and Tonyazzi. They are again nominated for a Cesar.
On the brink of psychopathology
Fortunately, countless dramatic roles did not make the actor hostage to a comedy mask. Michel Cerro, whose filmography includes more than 140 paintings, in the late 70s achieved a high level of professionalism, which deserves recognition not only among fans, viewers, but also among colleagues and film critics. The actor is actively acting in criminal dramas and psychological thrillers. Cerro chooses two-faced characters whose soul is dark: a decent respected layman who threw his spouse out of the window (in the crime comedy “Eagle or Tails”), “arrogated” someone else's life, using amnesia (in the drama “Prepare your handkerchiefs”), an excellent notary who confessed to a serious crime and did not commit it (in the criminal thriller Under Preliminary Investigation). The contemporaries of the performer explain such a sharp change in the role of filmmakers by the pain of the actor associated with the loss of Carolina's youngest daughter. A girl aged 19 died as a result of an accident.
In the 90s, Michelle Serro, films with whose participation remained consistently successful, despite his advanced age continues to be actively filmed. By the time of the production of the drama "Nellie and Mr. Arnault", for which the actor received his third Cesar absolutely deservedly, the number of paintings in his filmography exceeded 140 works.
The legend of the French film industry
At the age of 80, Michel Cerro died of cancer in his mansion in Honfleur (France). Initially, he was buried in this city, but in 2009 the body of the performer was exhumed and his ashes buried in the graveyard of Anciennes, where his wife Nita and the deceased daughter Caroline were buried earlier.
The actor was recognized by the cinema community as a legend in the world film industry, one of the symbols of the era, the king of the French screen along with Alain Delon and Louis de Funes.