Pierre Richard
Pierre Richard (born Pierre-Richard Maurice Charles Léopold Defays; 16 August 1934) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter, best known for the roles of a clumsy daydreamer in comedy films. Pierre Richard is considered by many, such as Louis de Funès and Gérard Depardieu, to be one of the greatest and most talented French comedians in the last 50 years. He is also a film director and occasional singer. Early life. Pierre Richard was born in a bourgeois family from Valenciennes. He is the grandson of Léopold Defays who was the director of the company Escaut -et-Meuse. His name comes from the stage name of Pierre Richard-Willm who was his mother's favorite actor. Pierre Richard spent his childhood and a part of his teenage years in his native city where he was a student at the Henri-Wallon high school. Skipping classes regularly to go to the cinema, it was Danny Kaye in "Up in Arms" that revealed his vocation. This was received with only a moderate enthusiasm by his family, but he decided nonetheless to go to Paris to study dramatic arts at the famous Ecole Charles Dullin. His debuts were far  from brilliant (he wanted to play straight drama, which was not in his nature) and he studied kinesiotherapy to have a safety exit if needed, but he didn't renounce acting. Acting career. After a short stint as an extra at Jean Vilar's Théâtre National Populaire, Pierre Richard started his career with Antoine Bourseiller and, to augment his income, created a comedy duet with Victor Lanoux. They performed with great success in famous Parisian cabarets and music-halls sketches they had written themselves. He then began his film career in 1968 in the film "Alexandre le Bienheureux" (Very Happy  Alexander) directed by Yves Robert. In 1970, he directed his first film "Le Distrait", followed by "Les Malheurs d'Alfred" (1972) and "Je ne sais rien mais je dirai tout" (I Don't Know Much, But I'll Say Everything) (1973). He worked again with Yves Robert for the film "Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire" (The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe) (1973) and its sequel "The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe" (1974), both written by Francis Veber, who then cast him in the main role in his directorial film debut, "Le Jouet  (The Toy) (1976). Their partnership achieved further success in three successful comedies of the early 1980s, La Chèvre" (1981), "Les Compères" (1983) and "Les Fugitifs" (1986), which paired Richard with Gérard Depardieu. Richard returned behind the camera to direct "On peut toujours rêver" (1991) and "Droit dans le mur" (1997). Recurring names. Among his most famous film roles, Pierre Richard came to play different characters with the same name but without any link between them. He is named : Other activities. Since 1986, Pierre Richard has also become a businessman and winemaker. He owns the restaurant "Au pied de chameau" in  Paris and a 50-hectare vineyard which produces some 80,000 bottles a year (red and rosé) labelled as "Château Bel Évêque" in Gruissan in the department of Aude. Personal life. Married and divorced three times, he has two sons who are both actors and musicians, Olivier is a group member of "Blues trottoir" and plays the saxophone whereas Christophe plays the double bass. His grandson, Arthur Defays, is a model and actor. Filmography. Pierre Richard has played in all the films he has directed.