Actor Michel Blanc is dead
The star of cult films such as "Sun, Sex and Snow" shaped French cinema primarily with comedies. Now Michel Blanc is dead.
The popular French actor Michel Blanc is dead. He died in the night from the effects of cardiac arrest, as French media unanimously reported on Friday.
The actor, who was famous primarily for his roles in comedies, was 72 years old. In the course of his career, Blanc acted in more than 70 films, and directed and co-wrote more than ten of them.
Blanc amazed people with the variety of his acting, but also with his talent as a director, wrote France’s Minister of Culture Rachida Dati on X. “The cinema, the world of culture and all French people will not forget him.”
He made his breakthrough as an actor in the 1970s with the legendary comedy group Le Splendid. The theater group, which included Christian Clavier, Thierry Lhermitte and Gerard Jugnot (“The Children of Monsieur Mathieu”), also enjoyed great cinema success, especially with the “Les Bronzés” comedies.
Breakthrough as a clumsy womanizer
The comedies directed by Patrice Leconte became cult films in France. In Germany they became known under the titles “The Beach Brawlers” and “Sun, Sex and Snowstorm”.
For years, Blanc embodied the loser type and clumsy womanizer. For his performance in the erotic comedy “Evening Suit” alongside Gérard Depardieu, he won the award for best actor at the Cannes Film Festival, which he shared with Briton Bob Hoskins.
He later turned to more serious roles, such as in the crime thriller “The Engagement of Monsieur Hire” and the political drama “The Upstart”, for which he won the César for Best Supporting Actor in 2012. In April of this year, the actor, who was born on April 16, 1952, appeared in the comedy “It’s the Little Things”.
