• Name: Bourvil
  • Date of Birth: July 27, 1917
  • Place of Birth: Prétot-Vicquemare, Seine-Inférieure [now Seine-Maritime], France
Mini-bio: French actor/singer Bourvil (his professional name taken from the Bourville district of his native Normandy) was musically inclined from his youth, when he played trumpet in a municipal band. Developi... read moreng his singing while in military service, Bourvil first stepped on stage in 1937 as an amateur entertainer, using the stage name "Andrel." By 1938 he had become a fixture of the French music halls with his signature song, "Ignace," and at the time of the Nazi occupation Bourvil was an established radio performer. Though popular, it took Bourvil a while to develop his own style and stop imitating his idol, Gallic comedian Fernandel. Bourvil made his screen debut in a tiny part in Croisieres siderales (1941), but officially his first film was La Ferme du Pendu, filmed in 1943 and released outside France in 1945. An established comic performer, Bourvil did more stage than film work in the 1950s, though he was memorable as Planchet in the 1953 French Les Trois Mousquetoris,- and, less lovably, as the nasty innkeeper in the 1956 version of Les Miserables. Comparatively unknown to American audiences, Bourvil was given a wonderful moment in the Hollywood-financed war epic The Longest Day (1962), in which as the Mayor of Colleville he effusively greets the invading allied troops at Normandy and offers his negligible services as a soldier. The last of Bourvil's English-language appearances was in another all-star spectacular, Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (1969). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Replace this image with an actor photoBourvil mini-bio: André Bourvil, a French actor and singer best known for his roles in comedy, most notably in his collaboration with Louis de Funès in La Grande Vadrouille (1966), was born André Robert Raimbourg (July 27, 1917, Prétot-Vicquemare, France). He died September 23, 1970 in Paris, of Kahler's syndrome.

Bourvil wasn't born when his father was killed at war, and he spent his entire childhood in the village of Bourville, the name of which inspired his stage name. He married Jeanne Lefrique on January 23, 1943. After a battle with Kahler's syndrome, which attacks the bone marrow, he died at the age of 53. He is buried in Montainville (Yvelines).

In his comic performances Bourvil principally played roles of gentle and well-meaning characters who were often a bit obtuse or naive, such as his roles opposite the energetic Louis de Funès. Bourvil's well-meaning characters not only managed to make us laugh but also to save themselves from the Machiavellian designs of adversaries played by de Funès.

Bourvil was, however, also capable of more dramatic roles such as the handyman in L'Arbre de Noël (1969). In this role he observes the relationship between a man he works for and the young son who has fallen ill. The audience can identify with the character played by Bourvil, just as they can in his comic roles, so often as a simple man. One can also note his role of Thénardier in the film adaptation of Misérables (1958).

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