Richard, Pierre

(Pierre Defays / August 16, 1934, Valenciennes, Nord, France - )

   Born into a wealthy family, he opted for an artistic career. Having trained at the Ecole Charles Dullin, he attended Jean Vilar's acting class at the Conservatory of Dramatic Art. He made his debut onstage in a show on Baudelaire directed by Antoine Bourseiller. Then he created Les Caisses, qu'est-ce? at the Théâtre la Bruyère. He wrote many sketches that he played in Parisian cabarets with actor Victor Lanoux. A film actor since 1966 (Un Idiot à Paris, Serge Korber), he played leading and supporting roles in about sixty films, including those he directed. Starring in some box office hit comedies of the 1970s (1972 Le Grand Blond avec une Chaussure noire / UK: Follow That Guy with the One Black Shoe / USA: The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe, Yves Robert; 1974 Le Retour du grand Blond / USA: The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe, Pierre Richard) and the 1980s (three of Francis Veber's films in which he formed a successful duo with Gérard Depardieu: 1981 La Chèvre / Mas locos que una cabra / UK: Knock on Wood / USA: The Goat, France / Mexico; 1983 Les Compères / USA: Comdads; Les Fugitifs), he was the most popular French comic of his generation and notably won huge fame in Russia. Autobiography: 2003 Comme un Poisson sans Eau: Détournement et Mémoires (Le Cherche-Midi Editeur).

 Filmography

1970 ◘ Le Distrait / USA: The Daydreamer / Absent-Minded (also coscreenwriter, co-adapter, actor)

        ◘ Les Malheurs d'Alfred ou Après la Pluie . . . le mauvais Temps / USA: The Troubles of Alfred (also co-screenwriter, actor)

        ◘ Je sais rien, mais je dirai tout (also screenwriter, co-dialogist, actor)

1978 ◘ Je suis timide . . . mais je me soigne / UK and USA: Too Shy to Try (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, actor)

1980 ◘ C'est pas moi, c'est lui / USA: It's Not Me, It's Him (also screenwriter, actor)

1991 ◘ On peut toujours rêver (also co-screenwriter, actor)

1997 ◘ Droit dans le Mur (also co-screenwriter, actor)