Michel Serrault

Michel Serrault (24 January 1928, Brunoy, Essonne – 29 July 2007, Équemauville, Normandy) was a multi-award-winning French stage actor and film star who appeared from 1954 until (including) 2007 in more than 150 films.

Biography

Although he wanted to be a circus clown, Serrault's parents sent him to a seminary to study for the priesthood. He spent only a few months there before taking-up acting. His first professional job was in a touring production in Germany of Molière's Les Fourberies de Scapin. After military service in Dijon, he returned to Paris and joined Robert Dhery's burlesque troupe and appeared in their second hit show, Dugudu.

In 1948, he began his career in the theatre with Robert Dhéry in Les Branquignols. His first film was Ah! Les belles bacchantes, starring Robert Dhéry, Colette Brosset (Dhéry's then-wife), and Louis de Funès; directed by Jean Loubignac in 1954. Serrault played in the 1955 suspense thriller Les Diaboliques, starring Simone Signoret and directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot.

He met and worked with Jean Poiret in the early 1950s, which led to a song and comedy cabaret act and their playing together in 18 films from 1956 to 1984, and in a number of plays written by Poiret. The films they worked together in included Cette Sacrée Gamine (1956), with Brigitte Bardot, and Sacha Guitry's last film, Assassins et Voleurs (1957).

From February 1973 through 1978, he portrayed the role of Albin/Zaza opposite Jean Poiret in the play La Cage aux Folles, written by Poiret. He recreated the role for the film version of the play, which was released in 1978.

Serrault died from relapsing polychondritis at his home in Équemauville on 29 July 2007 at age 79. He was buried in Sainte-Catherine's cemetery in Honfleur and was transferred in 2009 to the cemetery of Neuilly-sur-Seine to be near his wife, Juanita Saint-Peyron, and daughter, Caroline, who died in 1977. He was survived by his daughter, actress Nathalie Serrault.