Pierre Étaix (; 23 November 1928 – 14 October 2016) was a French

clown A clown is a person who performs physical comedy and arts in an Improvisational theatre#Comedy, open-ended fashion, typically while wearing distinct cosmetics, makeup or costume, costuming and reversing social norm, folkway-norms. The art of ...

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

and

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

. Étaix made a series of short- and

feature Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature recognition, could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (machine learning), in statistics: individual measurable properties of the phenome ...

-length films, many of them co-written by influential screenwriter

Jean-Claude Carrière Jean-Claude Carrière (; 17 September 1931 – 8 February 2021) was a French novelist, screenwriter and actor. He received an Academy Award for best short film for co-writing '' Heureux Anniversaire'' (1963), and was later conferred an Honorar ...

. He won an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for best live action short film in 1963. Due to a legal dispute with a distribution company, his films were unavailable from the 1970s until 2009. As an actor,

assistant director The role of an assistant director (AD) on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have ...

and gag writer, Étaix worked with the likes of

Jacques Tati Jacques Tati (; born Jacques Tatischeff, ; 9 October 1907 – 5 November 1982) was a French mime, filmmaker, actor and screenwriter. In an ''Entertainment Weekly'' poll of the Greatest Movie Directors, he was voted 46th (a list of the top 50 was ...

Robert Bresson Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson made a notable contribution to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, Ellipsis (narrative device), ellipses, an ...

Nagisa Oshima is a Japanese name, Japanese given name used by either sex and is occasionally used as a surname. Written forms Nagisa can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *渚, "beach, strand" *汀, "water's edge/shore" *凪砂, "lu ...

, Otar Iosseliani and

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian, with a career spanning seven decades in film, stage, television and radio. Famously nicknamed as "Th ...

, the last of whom cast the comedian in his unreleased film '' The Day the Clown Cried''.

Biography

Étaix was born in 1928 in Roanne, France. He was trained as a

graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

and introduced to the art of

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

by Théodore-Gérard Hanssen. He settled in Paris where he worked as a magazine

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

while performing in

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

s and

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

s, such as The Golden Horse, The Three Donkeys, ABC, the Alhambra, Bobino and Olympia, and a

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

performer with the clown Nino. He met

in 1954 and worked as a draftsman and gagman on Tati's film ''

Mon Oncle ''Mon Oncle'' (; ) is a 1958 comedy film directed by Jacques Tati. The first of Tati's films to be released in colour, ''Mon Oncle'' won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, a Special Prize at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival, and th ...

'' (1958), including the creation of the film's promotional

poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...

, then as

. According to many film critics as well as his fellow film makers, Pierre Étaix was a continuation of the great masters of slapstick and the comedy film the

silent era A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

such as

Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent films during the 1920s, in which he performed physical comedy and inventive stunts. He frequently ...

Harold Lloyd Harold Clayton Lloyd Sr. (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) was an American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who appeared in many Silent film, silent comedy films.Obituary ''Variety'', March 10, 1971, page 55. One of the most influent ...

Harry Langdon Henry Philmore "Harry" Langdon (June 15, 1884 – December 22, 1944) was an American actor and comedian who appeared in vaudeville, silent films (where he had his greatest fame), and talkies.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', December 27 ...

, Max Linder,

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

, and

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) ...

. His first feature films as director were '' The Suitor'' (1962) and '' Yoyo'' (1965), where he paid homage to the circus world. He then directed an anthology film of four shorts, '' As Long as You've Got Your Health'' (1966), and '' The Great Love'' (1969). Both of these were co-written with Carrière. Faced with the scarcity of French circus artists, Étaix decided to found the National Circus School (1973) with Annie Fratellini, whom he married in 1969, and wore a white clown suit during tours of their own circus, having long played the tramp. Etaix died from complications of an intestinal infection on 14 October 2016 in Paris. He was 87.

once remarked that twice in his life he understood what genius meant: the first time when he looked up the definition in a dictionary, and the second time when he met Pierre Etaix.

Awards

Louis Delluc Prize The Louis Delluc Prize ( ) is a French film award presented annually since 1937. The award is bestowed to the Best Film and Best First Film of the year on the second week of each December. The jury is composed of 20 members, consisting of a group ...

, 1962, for '' Le Soupirant'' *Special Diploma, 1963, for '' Le Soupirant'' at the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival *

, Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects (1963), for ''Heureux anniversaire '' shared with

* Telluride Film Festival Silver Medallion, 2011 * Aardman

Slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as ...

Visual Comedy Award, 2012 * Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, 2013 * Grand Prize of the SACD ( Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers), 2013

Filmography

As director

*''Rupture'' (1961) short *'' Insomnie'' (1962) short, incorporated into '' As Long as You've Got Your Health'' 1971 edition) *'' Heureux Anniversaire'' (''Happy Anniversary'', 1962) short *'' Le Soupirant'' (''The Suitor'', 1962) *'' Yoyo'' (1965) *'' Tant qu'on a la santé'' (''As Long As You've Got Your Health'', 1966, re-edited 1971) *'' Le grand amour'' (1969) *'' Pays de cocagne'' (''Land of Milk and Honey,'' 1971) documentary *'' L'âge de Monsieur est avancé'' (1987) TV film *'' Méliès 88: Rêve d'artiste'' (1988) TV short *'' J'écris dans l'espace'' (1989) documentary featurette *'' En pleine forme'' (''Feeling Good'', '' As Long as You've Got Your Health'' segment, deleted 1971, released standalone 2010) Unreleased * '' Nous n'irons plus au bois'' (1961) short

TV series episodes

* '' Souris noire'' (1987)

Performances

*''

Pickpocket Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for Misdirection (magic ...

'' (1959) – second accomplice *'' Tire-au-flanc 62'' (''The Army Game'', 1960) – Le chef de gare (uncredited) *''Rupture'' (1961, Short) – L'homme qui reçoit une lettre de rupture *''Une grosse tête'' (1962) *''Heureux anniversaire'' (1962, Short) – Le mari *'' Le Soupirant'' (1962) – Pierre, the Suitor *''Le Pèlerinage'' (1962, Short) *'' Yo Yo'' (1965) – Yoyo / le millionaire *'' Tant qu'on a la santé'' (''As Long As We've Got Our Health'', 1966) – Pierre *'' Le Voleur'' (''The Thief of Paris'', 1967) – Le pickpocket (uncredited) *'' Le Grand Amour'' (1969) – Pierre *'' I Clowns'' (1970, TV Movie) – Himself *''Bel Ordure'' (1973) *'' Sérieux comme le plaisir'' (1975) – Le garçon d'étage *''Noctuor'' (1978, Short) *''La Métamorphose'' (1983, TV Movie) *'' Max, mon amour'' (1985) – Le détective / Detective *''Nuit docile'' (1987) – SOS Amor *''L'âge de monsieur est avancé'' (1987) – L'auteur *''

Henry & June ''Henry & June'' is a 1990 American biographical drama film directed by Philip Kaufman, and starring Fred Ward, Uma Thurman, and Maria de Medeiros. It is loosely based on the posthumously published 1986 Anaïs Nin book of the same name, ...

'' (1990) – Henry's Friend No. 1 *'' Jardins en automne'' (''Gardens in Autumn'', 2006) *''Lucifer et moi'' (2008) *'' Micmacs à tire-larigot'' (2009) – L'inventeur des histoires drôles (uncredited) *'' Chantrapas'' (2010) – Le producteur français *''

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

'' (2011) – Docteur Becker *''Chant d'hiver'' (2015) – Marquis-clochard Unreleased * '' The Day the Clown Cried'' (1972, unreleased) – Gustav

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Etaix, Pierre 1928 births 2016 deaths People from Roanne French clowns French male actors French film directors Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres