The world of imitation is in mourning. It is Claude Vega who had launched this art, in France, by embodying on stage many female celebrities, but also Montand or Dutronc. Unfortunately, the artist bowed out on Monday April 11, 2022, as announced by AFP and confirmed by his entourage. The 91-year-old man breathed his last after cutting off many spectators.
Born Claude Thibaudat, June 2, 1930, the impersonator adored women…and they paid him back. “It is enough for me to think of them to transform myself into them. A detail, a ‘defect’, a way of speaking and I caught them“, he explained. Many of his “victims” had laughed out loud when they saw themselves aped on the boards. An essential figure in the shows of Maritie and Gilbert Carpentier, he had notably caught the eye of Maria Callas and the actress Edwige Feuillère.
I was moved to share some scenes with him
This disappearance is difficult for everyone to digest. Laurent Ruquier, who had the opportunity to give him the reply, paid tribute to him a few hours after learning the news. “Goodbye to Claude Véga, 91, one of the pioneers of imitationhe wrote on his Instagram account. He was the voices of Barbara, Greco, Mouskouri, La callas Annie Girardot, Jacqueline Maillan, Zouc, De Funès, Delphine Seyrig, Maria Pacôme… Frédéric Lebon and Patrick Adler had followed in his footsteps. His Carpentier ‘Top à…’ were big popular hits. I was moved to share a few scenes with him, when I started out in cabarets.”
Claude Véga did not operate only in the field of imitation. Pillar of the sixth art, he had taken a turn, at the end of his career, to devote himself to theater and drawing. “I wanted to become an actorhe said. I started with imitations to survive and pay for my lessons at the Conservatoire. I was reciting The fables of the fountainas The oak and the reed by alternating about ten voices“. Small in size – he was 1m65 tall -, Claude Véga was great, by the heart and the talent…