The disappearance of actor and director Michel Blanc

In “Tout Public” on Friday October 4, 2024, a look back at the remarkable career of actor and director Michel Blanc.

He made us laugh while knowing how to diversify his roles, ranging from comedy to dramatic roles, and giving his preference to auteur cinema. Michel Blanc’s success does not stop at his talents as an actor, since he also goes behind the camera and has a career as a director, in parallel with that of an actor.

franceinfo reporter Boris Loumagne traveled through Paris in the footsteps of Michel Blanc, first at the Splendid theater, where he spoke with the theater administrator who shared with him his last memories of the filmmaker. It was six months ago, and he had come to celebrate the troupe’s 50th anniversary, a moment immortalized by a photo of Paris Matchalongside Gérard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte, Josiane Balasko and the whole gang.

Our reporter also went to see passers-by, who all expressed their emotion at the news of the actor’s death. Although he is best remembered for his roles in cult comedies like Tannedthey also remember the more dramatic roles that Michel Blanc played on screen, as in Evening Wear by Bernard Blier, or Mr Hire by Patrice Leconte.

The only César that Michel Blanc will receive will be for his supporting role in State Exercisewhere he plays a cold and methodical ministerial chief of staff. The director Pierre Shoeler who directed this film was at the microphone of “Tout Public” in memory of the great man of cinema that was Michel Blanc. During one of his first meetings with Michel Blanc to discuss the role, Pierre Shoeller remembers: “I found myself in an ideal situation where an actor wanted a role even before the project presented itself.“A symbiosis that continued throughout the filming…

“For him, [jouer] it was like an opera scene without music. (…) He had a sense of rhythm, a sense of play, which was quite extraordinary.”

Pierre Shoeller

franceinfo

Michel Blanc’s friend and composer Éric Tanguy confirms this “influence in his life and in his work” what classical music had on the actor. “Michel was an absolute enthusiast of classical music, a worshiper of Mozart, Chopin, Brahms, Rameau… I can name many others.” “He was an excellent pianist.”he adds. It was quite natural that Éric Tanguy then offered to compose a concerto for him, which allowed Michel Blanc to realize his dream: to recite a text on stage with an orchestra. Accomplishment that Éric Tanguy admits “modestly, [avoir été] very happy [de] bring him.”

A tribute will be paid to Michel Blanc in “Les Trésors de la musique” on France Musique this Friday October 4, 2024 at 10:30 p.m.

A program with the participation of Boris Loumagne, reporter at franceinfo, and Thierry Firorile and Matteu Maestracci, journalists in the culture department of franceinfo.