Funes, Louis de (Louis Germain David de Funès de Galarza). Louis de Funes: filmography, photo

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

This article will focus on the talented French comedian - the famous Louis de Funes. You will learn about his life path and significant events in his film career.

Origin

Funes, Louis de, was born in 1914, July 31, in the city of Courbevoie in France. His dad - Hispan Carlos de Funes de Galarza - was a descendant of an ancient aristocratic family from Seville. He trained as a lawyer, but all his life he was engaged in cutting diamonds. The mother of the future actor - Lenore de Funes - had Spanish and Portuguese roots, was a very temperamental and enterprising woman. It was she who was the real hostess in the house of de Funes. The woman adored her restless and funny son. Louis's parents moved to France in 1904 to get married, as the parents of the lovers were against this marriage. Hispan opened a small jewelry store in the Parisian suburbs, the income from which allowed the de Funes family to live comfortably on French soil.

Childhood

Funes, Louis de, was nicknamed "Fufu" as a child. The boy knew English, French and Spanish well. The future actor drew andplayed the piano beautifully. For a lively and rebellious disposition, Louis was expelled from everywhere where he tried to earn extra money as a teenager. The future celebrity enthusiastically fished in the Seine and copied the antics of his childhood idol, the brilliant Charlie Chaplin. About his cherished dream - to become a professional actor - the boy was afraid to speak out loud, fearing that his parents would not want to see their son as a simple actor.

Louie constantly demonstrated his comic gift to classmates, tirelessly grimacing and parodying teachers. The boy performed on the school theater stage, constantly laughing and fooling around. In 1939, the future actor was released from military service due to poor he alth: the young man, with a height of 1.64 m, weighed 55 kilograms. However, a year later, Louis still ended up in a military camp, where he entertained the fighters, performing popular songs to his own accompaniment on the piano.

First steps in career

After the war, Funes, Louis de, began to conquer the cinema. Previously, he attended the drama courses of René Simon. The aspiring actor made his debut in the film The Barbizon Temptation in 1945. This work was not very successful. Louis de Funes, whose filmography includes many works, for the first 13 years starred in tiny episodic roles that do not linger in the memory of the audience. Only in 1958 he was lucky - he played a big role in the Robert Yves film "Not Caught - Not a Thief." The image of the rogue and poacher Blaireau made Louis famous. The artist was on the crest of success at the age of forty-six. One acquaintance de Funes complained about the slownesswhimsical Fortune, stated to others that the comic baggage he acquired during the long journey to the goal allowed his acting talent to unfold in all its splendor.

At the height of glory

Funès de Louis has acquired a stable role as a fussy and unlucky rogue. In the early 1960s, a fashion for eccentric comedies with elements of absurd humor, buffoonery and parody appeared in world cinema. The characters portrayed by Louis de Funes fit perfectly into this popular genre. "Big Walk" (1966) and "Razinya" (1965) - pictures that made the actor famous not only at home, but also abroad. In them, Louis played in tandem with his best partner - Bourville. In 1967, the comedy film "Oscar" was released. Louis de Funes consolidated his success by playing a major role in the legendary multi-part film about the adventures of the provincial gendarme Cruchot. This was followed by the incredibly popular Fantomas trilogy, which won the hearts of millions of Soviet teenagers. At home, the actor was also appreciated. In 1968, Funes de Louis was recognized as the best actor. His fees rose to fabulous proportions, but at this time the first signs of a decline in the comedian's career began to be observed.

Hostage of one image

In 1970, Louis' irreplaceable partner, Bourvil, died. New comedies with the participation of the actor were based mainly on the comedian's unique grotesque facial expressions, sometimes turning into outright antics. The type created by the artist is an extremely unprincipled, conceited, absurd character,greedy, stupid and antipathetic. He wants to deceive the whole world, but he always remains a fool. The image used by the comedian is a successful continuation of the traditions of French medieval farce and Italian comedy. Louis de Funes constantly depicts on the screen the same social and national type as a collective image of all human vices and weaknesses. Such, for example, is his hero, Commissioner Juve. A suspicious and narcissistic blockhead, now and then faced with the fact that real life is not arranged at all the way he imagines. Watching Juve's unsuccessful attempts to cope with the brilliant Fantômas, the audience had fun from the bottom of their hearts. For the opportunity to laugh at this unpleasant type, the audience paid Louis de Funes with love and recognition. However, years passed, and the comedian remained hostage to the same image.

Black stripe

Under the influence of incredible popularity, the character of Louis has irreversibly deteriorated. Having unlimited power over producers, screenwriters and directors, the comedian shamelessly used it. He forced filmmakers to dance to his tune, as if compensating for long years of waiting and obscurity. But the audience still adored Louis de Funes.

In 1973, on March 15, the actor was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor. After this event, a black streak began in the life of the comedian. In the spring of 1975, he had his first heart attack. This happened right on the stage during the play "W altz of the bullfighters." A few months later, Funes, Louis de, suffered anotherheart attack. The directors stopped inviting him to films for fear that the actor would die right on the set. The famous comedian was offended by the indifferent attitude of his colleagues, left Paris and settled in the castle de Clermont, standing on the banks of the Loire. There, the actor enjoyed serene peace and solitude, grew roses and fished.

Recent film work

A call from director Claude Zidi interrupted this idyll. He invited Louis de Funes to star in the film "Wing or Leg". The comedian agreed, but during the filming he was under the vigilant supervision of doctors. With the role in this picture, the actor completed a series of grouchy swindlers and misers, embodied in abundance by him in the frame. The character of the famous artist has completely deteriorated. He constantly quarreled with colleagues in the workshop, became stingy and unbearable, like his on-screen characters. From now on, Louis de Funes, the gendarme from the amazing French comedy, smiled only at the camera, in life he became a dull and irritable old man. With his swan song and favorite picture, the actor called his directorial debut in the cinema - an adaptation of Moliere's play "The Miser". The comedian played the role of Gargapon superbly! If she had appeared in the filmography of de Funes twenty years earlier, she would have laid the foundation for a completely different creative biography of the artist. However, the film was coolly received by the audience and did not pay off at the box office. In 1980, for his contribution to the world and French cinematography, the great comedian was awarded the honorary Cesar Prize.

Private life

In 1936, Funes, Louis de, joined themarriage to Germaine Louise Elodie Carroyer. The couple had a son, Daniel, but after six years the couple broke up. The actor's second marriage was happier. While working as a solfeggio teacher at a music school, Louis met Jeanne Augustine de Barthelemy de Maupassant, grandniece of the famous writer. The girl could not help but reciprocate "the little man who played jazz like a god", and in 1943 the lovers got married. Jeanne and Louis lived together in sorrow and in joy, in sickness and he alth for forty years, until the death of the great comedian in 1983. They had two sons - Olivier, who later became a civilian pilot, and Patrick, who chose the profession of a doctor for himself.

Final

Louis de Funes, whose films are watched in one breath, considered Jean Giraud as his main director. It was with him that the actor created all the films about the gendarme from Saint-Tropez, as well as the films The Big Vacation (1967) and Cabbage Soup (1981). The death of Giraud de alt a crushing blow to the great comedian. He completely lost interest in life, stopped taking medicine, stopped checking bills, did not answer the phone calls and did not invite anyone to his place. It sometimes seemed to his wife that he forgot the name of his beloved granddaughter. The only person Louis occasionally interacted with was Victor, the gardener. With him, the great artist had long conversations about growing roses, and sometimes went fishing on the banks of the Loire. In 1983, on January 28 in the morning, de Funes died of a heart attack.

Conclusion

The personal lives of great people are always underclose public attention. In 2007, the memoirs of the artist's sons about their famous father were published. In a book called "Louis de Funes. Don't talk too much about me, my children," the unsightly sides of the artist's character were outlined. However, this man managed to raise the comedy genre to a new, hitherto unknown level. And numerous fans of Louis de Funes love and remember him to this day.