Jean-Baptiste Thierrée (born 2 May 1937) is a French actor and circus performer. He is married to

Victoria Chaplin Victoria Agnes Chaplin-Thierrée (born May 19, 1951) is a British-American circus performer. She is a daughter of film actor and comedian Charlie Chaplin from his fourth wife, Oona O'Neill, and a granddaughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill. Chap ...

and is the father of Aurélia Thierrée and James Thierrée. In theatre, Thierrée appeared on stage in ''Les Coréens'', directed by

Michel Vinaver Michel Vinaver (born Michel Grinberg; 13 January 1927 – 1 May 2022) was a French writer and dramatist. He was born in Paris to parents who had emigrated from Russia. He was the manager of Gillette. He is the father of actress Anouk Grinberg. ...

, in 1957. The same year hired

Roger Planchon Roger Planchon (; born 12 September 1931 in Saint-Chamond, Loire, died on 12 May 2009 in Paris), was a French playwright, director, and filmmaker. Biography Roger Planchon spent his childhood in the Ardèche, notably in Dornas. He found its ins ...

Thierrée to create Théâtre de la Cité. Thierrée has also worked with

Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Shak ...

. In cinema, Thierrée played the role of Bernard in the French psychological drama film '' Muriel'' (1963). He and his wife

also appeared briefly as two clowns in

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...

's '' The Clowns'' (1970). Thierrée and Chaplin had first come into contact after he read about Chaplin's aspiration of becoming a circus clown in a magazine article of her father, and asked her to form a new type of circus with him. Soon after a couple of secret meetings, they eloped in 1969. In 1971, they performed for the first time with the

contemporary circus Contemporary circus (or ''cirque contemporain'' in French-speaking countries) is a contested term in circus studies. In this article, it is used in contrast to the term 'traditional circus', combining with the genre elsewhere disambiguated as ne ...

''Le Cirque Bonjour'', which they had founded together, at

Festival d'Avignon The ''Festival d'Avignon'', or Avignon Festival (), is an annual arts festival held in the France, French city of Avignon every summer in July in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes as well as in other locations of the city. Founded in 1947 by ...

. In 1974, they founded a new, smaller circus ''Le Cirque Imaginaire'', which centered only on their, and occasionally their children's, performances, and from 1990 onward have performed under the name ''Le Cirque Invisible''. Thierrée and Chaplin have two children, Aurélia Thierrée (born 24 September 1971), and James Thierrée (born 2 May 1974), who are performing artists. Thierrée also has a daughter named Juliette (born 7 November 1967), from an earlier marriage to French writer Betty Duhamel fr. Juliette is a painter, sculptor and a performer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thierree, Jean-Baptiste 1937 births Living people 21st-century French male actors