Dhéry, Robert

(Robert Fourrey / April 27, 1921, Héry, Yonne, France - December 3, 2004, Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France)

   The grandson and son of millers, he intended to become a clown and joined an itinerant circus at age fourteen. Then he briefly attended René Simon's courses before enrolling in the Paris Conservatory, where he had Louis Jouvet and Béatrix Dussane as teachers. He also met a young actress named Colette Brosset (1922-2007) and married her in 1943. He formed a trio with Christian Duvaleix and Jacques Emmanuel called Les Sockett and made his profes­sional debut in a cabaret music hall. In 1948, he wrote and created Les Branquignols, which he brought to the screen the following year. Les Branquignols was also the name of his stage company and included such actors as Michel Serrault, Louis de Funès, Jean Poiret, Francis Blanche, Jacques Legras, Christian Duvaleix, Pierre Olaf, Pierre Tornade, Micheline Dax, Robert Rollis, Maurice Baquet, and Jean Carmet, with whom he wrote and performed succesful comical shows (Dugudu; Vos Gueules les Mouettes!; La Grosse Valse; Ju­pon vole; En Sourdine . . . les Sardines; Le Chapeau de mon Oncle; Pommes à l'Anglaise).Thanks to La Plume de ma Tante, he won huge popularity with British and Ameri­can audiences (the tour lasted three years) and won a Tony Award in 1959. Besides the movies he directed, he played in about twenty films (from 1940 Remor­ques / USA: Stormy Waters, Jean Grémillon, to 1987 La Passion Béatrice / Quarto comandamento / USA: Beatrice / US video: The Passion of Beatrice, Bertrand Tavernier, France / Italy). He wrote the screenplay of Ah! Les Belles Bacchantes / UK: Femmes de Paris / USA: Peek-a-Boo (Jean Loubignac, 1954). Autobiography: 1978 Ma Vie de Branquignol (Calmann-Lévy).

 Filmography

        ◘ Branquignol (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, actor)

        ◘ La Patronne (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist)

1951 ◘ Bertrand Cœur de Lion (also screenwriter, dialogist, actor)

1961 ◘ La Belle Américaine / UK: The American Beauty / USA: What a Chassis (with the collaboration of Pierre Tchernia; also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, actor)

1964 ◘ Allez France! / USA: The Counterfeit Constable (with the collaboration of Pierre Tchernia; also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, actor)

1968 ◘ Le Petit Baigneur / Si salvi chi puo (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist, actor)

1974 ◘ Vos Gueules les Mouettes (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, actor)