Philippe Clair

Prosper Charles Bensoussan professionally known as Philippe Clair 14 September 1930 28 November 2020 was a MoroccanFrench actor director producer screenwriter and popular humorist Along with fellow French directors Max Pécas and Richard Balducci his name is synonymous with the golden age of camp and low comedy in French cinema Philippe Clair moved to Paris in 1950 to study acting at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts of Paris He won the Bernstein and College Stars awards honors given to the best young Parisian actors He performed on stage and television with major directors and writers in shows such as LAffaire des poisons Affair of the Poisons directed by Raymond Rouleau Une femme libre A free woman by Armand Salacrou and Les Îles fortunées The Prosperous Islands by Simon Gantillon Eventually he got a show of his own and became an important French humorist mounting such works as the JudeoArabic Purée de nous zotres Mashed we zotres and Le Cid in Oued Bel Parody of El Cid based on the book by Edmond Brua He specialized in improvisation and in writing comedy sketches In 1965 Clair directed his first film Déclic et des claques Clicks and Slaps with Annie Girardot the comic misadventures of a young piednoir French Algerian in Paris He continued his work as a singer in 1967 his sketch Rien Nasser de courir which satirized the SixDay War was banned because of its political overtones In 1970 Philippe Clair became the leading director of popular comedy His humor usually had a French Algerian flavor Most of his films were commercial successes although sometimes they were panned by critics who called them vulgar or overacted His films were often plagiarized by other directors with typical French disrespect oras the French call itfranchouillards His 1971 film La Grande Java Great Java launched the comedy careers of the members of the French band Les Charlots He went on to use band member Aldo Maccione in The Great Maffia Plus beau que moi tu meurs More beautiful than me you die and Taistoi quand tu parles Shut up when you talk He made several surreal films such as Le Führer en folie The Fuhrer Runs Amok which featured Henri Tisot in the role of Adolf Hitler and in which Michel Galabru plays the role of a football referee In 1984 he managed the greatest coup of his career by casting Jerry Lewis in the film Par où tes rentré On ta pas vu sortir How Did You Get In We Didnt See You Leave In 2013 journalist and filmmaker Gilles Botineau joined with Philippe Clair to produce a documentary portrait titled Plus drôle que lui tu meurs Funnier than him you die The film lasting 55 minutes covered Clairs entire career focusing especially on his vision of comedy Clair retired in 1990 at the age of 60 However he returned with a production he wrote in 2013 titled Help Philippe Clair returns Philippe Clair was not always treated kindly by the critics Critic John Tulard in the Dictionary of French directors said His work is incredibly stupid and vulgar The weekly French magazineTélérama opined Every film by Philippe Clair is worse than the last and yet it never stops Source Article Philippe Clair from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30