Nationality:
French.
Born:
Buenos Aires, Argentina, of French parents, 11 January 1916.
Education:
Lycée Condorcet; studied drama with Raymond Rouleau, and at Paris
Conservatory under Louis Jouvet.
Family:
Married; son: film director Bertrand Blier; daughter: Brigitte.
Career:
1936—stage debut at Théâtre de l'Etoile,
Paris; 1937—film debut in
Troix-six-neuf
; 1940—mobilized at beginning of war, taken prisoner by Germans;
1942—resumed stage appearances; after war—leading player in
"boulevard comedies" on Parisian stage.
Awards:
Brussels Prize, 1949; Prix Feminin de Cinéma, 1950; Prix Balzac,
1973; Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur; Special CĂ©sar, 1988.
Died:
In Paris, 29 March 1989.
Trois-six-neuf (Rouleau); Gribouille ( Heart of Paris ) (M.Allégret); Le Messager (Rouleau); La Dame de Malacca (M. Allégret); L'Habit vert (Richebé)
Altitude 3200 ( Youth in Revolt ) (Benoît-Lévy); Entrée des artistes ( The Curtain Rises ) (M. Allégret); Hôtel du Nord (Carné); Grisou (de Canonge); Double Crime sur la Ligne Maginot ( Treachery Within ) (Candera); Place de la Concorde (Lamac); Accord final (Bay)
Le Jour se lève ( Daybreak ) (Carné); L'Enfer des anges (Christian-Jaque); Quartier Latin (Colombier); Nuit de Décembre ( Heure exquise ) (Bernhardt); Tourelle 3 (Christian-Jaque—unfinished due to outbreak of war)
L'Assassinat du Père Nöel ( Who Killed Santa Claus? ) (Christian-Jaque); Le Pavillon Brûle (de Baroncelli); Premier bal (Christian-Jaque); Caprices (Joannon)
La Symphonie fantastique (Christian-Jaque); La Femme que j'ai le plus aimée (Vernay); Romance à trois (Richebé); La Nuit fantastique (L'Herbier); Le Journal tombe à cinq heures (Lacombe); Le Mariage de chiffon (Autant-Lara); Marie Martine (Valentin)
Les Petites du quai aux Fleurs (M. Allégret); Je suis avec toi (Decoin); Domino (Richebé)
Farandolle (Zwoboda)
Seul dans la nuit (Stengel); Monsieur Gregoire s'évadé (Daniel-Norman)
Messieurs Ludovic (Le Chanois); Le Café du Cadran (Gehret)
Quai des Orfèvres (Clouzot)
Dédée d'Anvers ( Dédée ) (Y. Allégret); D'homme à hommes ( Man to Men ) (Christian-Jaque); Les Casse-pieds ( The Spice of Life ) (Dreville)
L'Ecole buissonière ( Passion for Life ; I Have a New Master )(Le Chanois); Monseigneur (Richebé); Retour à la vie ("Tante Emma" ep.) (Cayatte); L'Invité du Mardi (Deval)
La Souricière (Calef); Manèges ( The Cheat ; Riding for a Fall )(Y. Allégret); Les Anciens de Saint-Loup (Lampin); Souvenirs perdus (Christian-Jaque)
Sans laisser d'adresse (Le Chanois); La Maison Bonnadieu (Rim)
Agence matrimoniale (Le Chanois); Je l'ai été trois fois (Guitry)
Secrets d'alcĂ´ve ("Le Lit de la Pompadour" ep.) ( The Bed )(Delannoy); Suivez cet homme! (Lampin)
Avant le déluge (Cayatte); Scènes de ménage (Berthomieu)
Le Dossier noir (Cayatte); Les Hussards (Joffe)
Crime et châtiment ( Crime and Punishment ) (Lampin); Prigionieri del male (Costa); Rivelazione
L'Homme à l'imperméable ( The Man in the Raincoat )(Duvivier); Retour de Manivelle ( There's Always a Price Tag ) (de la Patellière); Quand la femme s'en mêle (Y.Allégret); La Bonne Tisane (Bromberger)
Les Misérables (Le Chanois) (as Javert); La Chatte ( The Cat )(Decoin); Les Grandes Familles ( The Possessors ) (de laPatellière); Sans famille (Michel); En légitime défense (Berthomieu); Le Joueur (Autant-Lara); L'Ecole des cocottes (Audry)
Marie-Octobre (Duvivier); La grande querra ( La Grande Guerre ; The Great War ) (Monicelli) (as Captain Castelli); Marche ou crève (Lautner); Archimède, le clochard ( The Magnificent Tramp ) (Grangier) (as Pichon); Les Yeux de l'amour (de la Patellière)
Il Gobbo ( Le Bossu de Rome ; The Hunchback of Rome )(Lizzani) (title role); Crimen ( . . . and Suddenly It's Murder ) (Camerini) (as police commissioner); Vive Henri IV, vive l'amour! (Autant-Lara); Le Secret du Chevalier d'Eon (Audry); Le Président (Verneuil)
Le Cave se rebiffe ( The Counterfeiters of Paris ; Money, Money, Money ) (Grangier) (as Charles); ArrĂŞtez les tambours ( Women and War ) (Lautner) (as Mayor Leproux); I briganti italiani ( Les Guerilleros ) (Camerini); Les Petits Matins (Audry); Le Monocle noir (Gerard)
Mathias Sandorff (Lampin); Le Septième Juré ( The Seventh Juror ) (Lautner) (as Grégoire Duval); Pourquoi Paris? (de la Patellière); Les Saintes Nitouches (Montazel)
I compagni ( The Organizer ) (Monicelli) (as Martinetti); Il magnifico avventuriero (Freda); Germinal (Y. Allégret); Cent Mille Dollars au Soleil ( Greed in the Sun ) (Verneuil)(as Mitch-Mitch)
La Bonne Soupe ( Careless Love ) (Thomas) (as Monsieur Joseph); "Gente modern" ("Modern People") ep. of Alta infedeltĂ ( High Infidelity ) (Monicelli) (as Reguzzoni); Il magnifico cornuto ( The Magnificent Cuckold ) (Pietrangeli)(as Corna d'Oro); La Chasse Ă l'homme ( Male Hunt )(Molinaro) (as Monsieur Heurtin); Les Barbouzes ( The Great Spy Chase ) (Lautner) (as Cafarelli); "Une Chance explosive" or "Le Jeu de la chance" ep. of La Chance et l'amour (Tavernier)
"La Fermeture" ep. of Les Bons Vivants (Grangier); Una questione d'onore ( A Question of Honor ) (Zampa); Quand passent les faisans (Molinaro)
Du mou dans la gachette (Grospierre); Duello nel mundo (Scott); Delitto quasi perfetto (Camerini); Le Grand Restaurant (Besnard); Un Idiot Ă Paris (Korber)
Lo straniero ( The Stranger ) (Visconti) (as defense counsel); Peau d'espion ( To Commit a Murder ) (Molinaro) (as Rhome); Le fou du Labo 4 (Besnard); Caroline chérie (de la Patellière); Copain suavé sa peau (Boisset); Si j'étais un espion ( Breakdown ; If I Were a Spy ) (Bertrand Blier)
Faut pas prendre les enfants du bon Dieu pour les canards sauvages ( Operation Leontine ) (Audiard); Riusciranno i nostri eroi a trovare il loro amico misteriosamente scomparso in Africa? (Scola); Elle boit pas, elle fume pas, elle drogue pas, mais elle cause (Audiard); Appelez-moi Mathilde (Mondy)
Mon Oncle Benjamin (Molinaro)
Le Cri du cormoran le soir au-dessus des jonques (Audiard); Le Distrait (Richard); Laisse aller, c'est une valse (Lautner)
Catch Me a Spy (Clement); Homo eroticus ( Man of the Year )(Vicario) (as Dr. Mezzini); Il furto e l'anima del commercio (Corbucci); Quarta parete (Bolzoni); Le Tueur (de la Patellière); Jo (Girault)
Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire ( The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe ) (Robert) (as Milan); Tout le monde il est beau, tout le monde il est gentil (Yanne); Elle cause plus, elle flinque (Audiard); Boccaccio (Corbucci)
Moi y'en a vouloir des sous (Yanne); Je sais rien, mais je dirai tout (Richard); Par le sang des autres (Simenon); Les Tontons flingueurs (Lautner)
. . . la main Ă couper (Perier); Les Chinois Ă Paris (Yanne) (asPresident); C'est pas parce qu'on a rien Ă dire qu'il fermer sa gueule (Besnard); Bons baisers Ă lundi (Audiard); Il piatto piange (Nuzzi); Processo per direttissima (de Caro)
Ce cher Victor (Davis); Amici miei ( My Friends ) (Germi and Monicelli); C'est dur pour tout le monde (Gion); Le Faux - Cul (Hanin); Calmos ( Femmes fatales ) (Bertrand Blier)
Le Corps de mon ennemi (Verneuil); La Nuit d'or (Moatti)
Le TĂ©moin (Mocky)
Le Compromis (Zerbib)
Il malato imaginario ( La malade imaginaire ; The Hypochon- driac ) (Cervi); SĂ©rie noire (Corneau) (as Staplin); Buffet froid (Bertrand Blier) (as police inspector)
Voltati Eugenio (Comencini)
Passione d'amore (Scola) (as Major Tarasso); Pétrole, pétrole (Gion)
Le due vite di Mattia Pascal ( The Two Lives of Mattia Pascal )(Monicelli) (as Paleari); Ca n'arrive qu'a moi (Perrin); Sceno di querra (Risi); Amici miei atto III (Loy)
Je hais les acteurs ( I Hate Actors ) (Krawczyk) (as J. B. Cobb); Spaggia privata (Bozzetto); Twist Again Ă Moscou (Poure)(as Minister); Speriamo che sia femmina ( Let's Hope It's a Girl ) (Monicelli) (as Uncle Gughi)
Sotto il ristorante cinese (Bozzetto) (as Eva's father); I Picari (Monicelli)
Mangeclous (Mizrahi); Ada dans la jungle (Zingy)
Una botta di vita (Oldaini); Paganini (Kinski)
Interview by B. Villien and P. Carcassone in Cinématographe (Paris), January 1980.
Blier, Annette, and Claude Dufresne, Bernard Blier , Paris, 1989.
"Bernard Blier," in Ecran (Paris), July 1978.
Obituary in Variety (New York), 5 April 1989.
Beylie, Claude, "L'Ami Blier," in Avant-Scène du Cinéma (Paris), May 1989.
* * *
Although Bernard Blier made his film debut at the age of 21 in films by Marc Allégret and Rouleau (two films by each director in 1937), and worked regularly in films during the next few years, he began to get good roles only after the war. He had played ordinary workers in different settings quite convincingly, but was able to show his many-sided dramatic abilities in Dédée d'Anvers (Yves Allégret) and, particularly, in Quai des Orfèvres (Clouzot), a classic film of the criminal genre, in which he appeared with Jouvet and Dullin. His performance as a country teacher in L'Ecole buissonière (Le Chanois) solidified his reputation, and he won several prizes for his acting in it.
From that time he regularly appeared in French and foreign films as a leading character actor. Audiences have been particularly fond of his roles as police inspectors, his most notable performances in this vein being Javert in Le Chanois's version of Hugo's Les Misérables and in Cayatte's Le Dossier noir . But he also appeared in such works as Zola's Germinal (Yves Allégret), Camus's Lo straniero (Visconti), and many comic films.
His filmography, containing some 200 film roles, is evidence of the intensity of his work. He earned the reputation of an excellent and many-sided interpreter due to his discipline and exactingness, and he continued to occupy a prominent place in French film.
His work on the stage, begun slightly before his work in films, was also outstanding. His work in boulevard comedies climaxed in his success in Roussin's comedy Le Marie , la femme , et la mort which ran almost three years. He also appeared with Isabelle Adjani in the Comédie Française production of L'Ecole des femmes for the 300th anniversary celebration of Molière's death in 1973.
—Karel Tabery
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