Gérard Oury (French pronunciation: [ʒeʁaʁ uʁi]; born Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum; 29 April 1919 – 20 July 2006) was a French film director, actor and writer.

Gérard Oury
Oury in 1984
Born
Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum

(1919-04-29)29 April 1919
Paris, France
Died20 July 2006(2006-07-20) (aged 87)
Saint-Tropez, France
Years active1942–2003
Spouse
(m. 1960)

Life and career

edit

Max-Gérard Houry-Tannenbaum was the only son of Serge Tannenbaum, a violinist of Russian-Jewish origin,[1] and French Jewish Marcelle Houry, a journalist and art critic.[2] Tannenbaum was absent from the life of Oury and he was raised in an unobservant house of his mother and maternal grandmother Berthe Goldner.[3] Oury studied at the Lycée Janson de Sailly and then at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art. He became a member of the Comédie-Française before World War II, but fled with all his family (mother, grandmother and unofficial wife, actress Jacqueline Roman [fr]) to Switzerland to escape the anti-Jewish persecutions by the Vichy government. When in 1942 his daughter Danièle Thompson was born, his fatherhood was concealed, to avoid her classification as a Jew.[3]

After 1945 he returned to the liberated Paris and restarted his career as an actor, performing in the theatre and in supporting roles in the cinema. Oury became a movie director in 1959 (The Itchy Palm [fr]) and gained his first success in 1961 with Crime Does Not Pay (Le crime ne paie pas).

Pairing André Bourvil and Louis de Funès as a comic duo, he burst into commercial filmmaking with 1965's The Sucker (Le corniaud). The film was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival.[4] The following year, Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At! (La Grande Vadrouille) was even more successful, attracting the largest audiences ever in France (17.27 million admissions). This box-office record stood for decades, only surpassed in 1997 by Titanic from James Cameron.[5]

Oury shot the 1969 comedy Le Cerveau (The Brain) in English, starring David Niven in the lead role as a criminal mastermind.

 
Oury with spouse Michèle Morgan at the Cannes Film Festival, 2001

With actress Jacqueline Roman, he was the father of French writer Danièle Thompson and grandfather of actor/writer Christopher Thompson. He lived together with the French actress Michèle Morgan for the second half of his life. He died aged 87 in Saint-Tropez on 20 July 2006.[6]

Filmography

edit
Actor
Year Title Role Director Notes
1942 Les Petits Riens Philinte Raymond Leboursier
1947 Antoine and Antoinette a customer Jacques Becker
1949 Jo la Romance Roland Grenier Gilles Grangier
1949 Du Guesclin Charles V of France Bernard Delatour
1950 La Souricière Petit rôle Henri Calef Uncredited
1949 La Belle que voilà Bruno Jean-Paul Le Chanois
1951 Without Leaving an Address a journalist Jean-Paul Le Chanois
1951 Mr. Peek-a-Boo Maurice Jean Boyer
1951 The Night Is My Kingdom Lionel Moreau Georges Lacombe
1952 Le Costaud des Batignolles Récitant / Narrator Guy Lacourt Voice
1953 Endless Horizons Jean Dréville Voice
1953 Sea Devils Napoleon Raoul Walsh
1953 The Sword and the Rose the Dauphin Ken Annakin
1953 The Heart of the Matter Yusef George More O'Ferrall
1954 They Who Dare Captain George Two Lewis Milestone
1954 Father Brown Inspector Dubois Robert Hamer
1954 Loves of Three Queens Napoleon Bonaparte Marc Allégret and Edgar G. Ulmer (segment: Napoleon and Josephine)
1954 The River Girl Enzo Cinti Mario Soldati
1954 I cavalieri dell'illusione Napoleone Bonaparte Marc Allégret
1955 The Heroes Are Tired Villeterre Yves Ciampi
1956 La Meilleure Part Gérard Bailly - un ingénieur Yves Allégret
1956 House of Secrets Julius Pindar Guy Green
1957 Méfiez-vous fillettes Marcel Palmer Yves Allégret
1958 Le Septième Ciel Maurice Portal Raymond Bernard
1958 Back to the Wall Jacques Decrey Édouard Molinaro
1958 Le Miroir à deux faces Doctor Bosc André Cayatte
1959 The Journey Teklel Hafouli Anatole Litvak
1960 La Main chaude Cameo Appearance Gérard Oury Uncredited
1961 The Menace Le docteur Gérard Oury
1963 The Prize Doctor Claude Marceau Mark Robson
1986 A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later Un spectateur de '40 ans déjà' Claude Lelouch Uncredited
2003 Là-haut, un roi au-dessus des nuages Le général de La Motte-Noire Pierre Schoendoerffer (final film role)
Director
Year Title Cast Notes
1960 La Main chaude [fr] with Jacques Charrier
and Macha Méril
also credited as writer
1961 La Menace [fr] with Robert Hossein
and Marie-José Nat
1962 Crime Does Not Pay Danielle Darrieux,
Michèle Morgan,
Edwige Feuillère,
Gino Cervi,
Gabriele Ferzetti,
Annie Girardot,
Pierre Brasseur,
and others
also credited as writer
1965 The Sucker starring Bourvil
and Louis de Funès
also credited as writer
1966 La Grande Vadrouille starring Bourvil,
Louis de Funès
and Terry-Thomas
also credited as writer
1969 The Brain Jean-Paul Belmondo,
Bourvil,
David Niven,
Eli Wallach
and others
also credited as writer
1971 Delusions of Grandeur starring Louis de Funès
and Yves Montand
also credited as writer
1973 The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob starring Louis de Funès also credited as writer
1978 La Carapate starring Pierre Richard also credited as writer
1980 The Umbrella Coup starring Pierre Richard also credited as writer
1982 The Ace of Aces / The Super Ace starring Jean-Paul Belmondo also credited as writer
1984 La vengeance du serpent à plumes starring Coluche,
and Josiane Balasko
also credited as writer
1987 Lévy et Goliath [fr] with Richard Anconina,
and Michel Boujenah
also credited as writer
1993 La Soif de l'or with Tsilla Chelton,
Catherine Jacob,
Christian Clavier
and others
also credited as writer
1996 Fantôme avec chauffeur [fr] with Philippe Noiret,
and Gérard Jugnot
1999 Le schpountz with Smaïn,
Sabine Azéma
and others
also credited as writer
Writer only
Year Title Cast Notes
1960 Come Dance with Me! starring Brigitte Bardot adaptation
1996 The Mirror Has Two Faces with Barbra Streisand,
Jeff Bridges,
Pierce Brosnan
and others
Remake of Le Miroir à deux faces (1958)

References

edit
  1. ^ "Gérard Oury". 29 April 1919.
  2. ^ Laurent Bourdon [fr], Définitivement Belmondo, p. 239
  3. ^ a b Mulvey, Michael. (2017). "What Was So Funny about Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob (1973): A Comedic Film between History and Memory", French Politics, Culture & Society, 35(3), pp. 24-43 JSTOR 26892954, p. 29
  4. ^ "4th Moscow International Film Festival (1965)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  5. ^ Schneider, Steven Jay, ed. (2007). 501 Movie Directors. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 238. ISBN 9781844035731. OCLC 1347156402.
  6. ^ "Gérard Oury est décédé" (in French). Le Figaro. 20 July 2006.
edit