July 30, 2007

Michel Serrault, 1928 - 2007.

Michel Serrault
French actor Michel Serrault, whose performance as a transvestite in the film and screen versions of La cage aux folles (The Birdcage) catapulted him to international stardom, has died, his priest said Monday. He was 79.... Serrault appeared in more than 130 films during a career that spanned half a century. After debuting as a comic actor, Serrault became one of France's most versatile stars, playing a serial killer, a grizzled farmer, a crooked banker and accused rapist.... French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid homage to Serrault's "impressive filmography," calling the actor a "monument of the world of the theater, the cinema and the television."

The AP.

Updates, 7/31: "Mr Serrault, who appeared in more than 130 films, worked with some of the most celebrated directors in French cinema, among them Claude Chabrol," writes Margalit Fox in the New York Times. His films shown in this country include The Butterfly, The Girl From Paris, Artemisia, The Swindle and Beaumarchais: The Scoundrel."

In the German-language papers: Verena Leuken in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Daniel Kothenschulte in the Frankfurter Rundschau and Alexandra Stäheli in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.



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Posted by dwhudson at July 30, 2007 3:40 AM

Comments

Whew-- they do come in three, these deaths: Bergman, Antonioni and Serrault. I think I'll miss Serrault the most. As fine as were many of the films of the other two (totaling 62 from Bergman and 35 from Antonioni), for more than half a century Serrault made 155 appearances in film and TV. Sure, quantity isn't everything, but I can't recall a bad performance from this guy who seemed to pop up so consistently in every third or so French film and who gave such specific, different and often lovely performances. And that wonderful face! As with other actors whom we've watched our whole adult lives, it's like losing an old friend--a comment I would never make about Bergman or Antonioni. From the recent Joyeux Noel thru The Girl From Paris, Butterfly, La Cage aux Folles, Artemisia, The Swindle, the great (and sadly unreleased on these shores) Les Enfants du Marais, Nelly & M. Arnaud, The Old Lady Who Walked in the Sea, Mortelle Randonnee, Buffet Froid and on and on, Serrault was legion and legend combined. And thanks to DVDs, we'll be able to watch his wonderful work for as long as we last. In fact, maybe I'll take a gander at Garde a Vue again soon....

Posted by: James van Maanen at July 31, 2007 2:26 PM