Gérard Oury (born Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum; 29 April 1919 – 20 July 2006) was a French film director, actor and writer. He is best known for a number of comedies he directed and co-wrote between the 1960s and 1980s, most notably The Sucker (1965), Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At! (1966), The Brain (1969), The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (1973), and Ace of Aces (1982).
Gérard Oury (born Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum; 29 April 1919 – 20 July 2006) was a French film director, actor and writer. He is best known for a number of comedies he directed and co-wrote between the 1960s and 1980s, most notably The Sucker (1965), Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At! (1966), The Brain (1969), The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (1973), and Ace of Aces (1982).
Max-Gérard Houry-Tannenbaum was the only son of Serge Tannenbaum, a violinist of Russian-Jewish origin, and French Jewish Marcelle Houry, a journalist and art critic. Tannenbaum was absent from the life of Oury and he was raised in an unobservant house of his mother and maternal grandmother Berthe Goldner. Oury studied at the Lycée Janson de Sailly and then at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art. He became a member of the Comédie-Française before World War II, but fled with all his family (mother, grandmother and unofficial wife, actress Jacqueline Roman) to Switzerland to escape the anti-Jewish persecutions by the Vichy government. When in 1942 his daughter Danièle Thompson was born, his fatherhood was concealed, to avoid her classification as a Jew.
After 1945 he returned to the liberated Paris and restarted his career as an actor, performing in the theatre and in supporting roles in the cinema. Oury became a movie director in 1959 (The Itchy Palm) and gained his first success in 1961 with Crime Does Not Pay (Le crime ne paie pas).
Pairing André Bourvil and Louis de Funès as a comic duo, he burst into commercial filmmaking with 1965's The Sucker (Le corniaud). The film was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival. The following year, Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At! (La Grande Vadrouille) was even more successful, attracting the largest audiences ever in France (17.27 million admissions). This box-office record stood for decades, only surpassed in 1997 by Titanic from James Cameron.
Oury shot the 1969 comedy Le Cerveau (The Brain) in English, starring David Niven in the lead role as a criminal mastermind.
With actress Jacqueline Roman, he was the father of French writer Danièle Thompson and grandfather of actor/writer Christopher Thompson. He lived together with the French actress Michèle Morgan for the second half of his life. He died aged 87 in Saint-Tropez on 20 July 2006.
Source: Article "Gérard Oury" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0653620
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q470798
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Filmography (Movies)
Les Rois de la comédie
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/2023
À la recherche de... Pierre Richard
Character:Self - Actor, director, producer (archive footage)
Release Date:01/09/2017
Sur la route de la grande vadrouille
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:22/11/2016
Louis de Funès, l'homme qui a passé le mur du son
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/2013
La Folle Heure des grandis
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/2002
A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later
Character:Un spectateur de '40 ans déjà'
Release Date:13/05/1986
The Prize
Character:Claude Marceau
Release Date:25/12/1963
The Menace
Character:The Doctor
Release Date:01/03/1961
The Itchy Palm
Character:Cameo Appearance (uncredited)
Release Date:03/02/1960
The Four of Moana
Character:Self - Narrator (voice)
Release Date:25/03/1959
The Journey
Character:Teklel Hafouli
Release Date:11/02/1959
The Mirror Has Two Faces
Character:docteur Bosc
Release Date:15/10/1958
Back to the Wall
Character:Jacques Decrey
Release Date:07/03/1958
Seventh Heaven
Character:Maurice Portal
Release Date:05/03/1958
Young Girls Beware
Character:Marcel Palmer
Release Date:04/07/1957
The Marines
Character:Récitant (voice)
Release Date:01/01/1957
House of Secrets
Character:Julius Pindar
Release Date:23/10/1956
L'homme au parapluie
Character:Grégory Black
Release Date:10/03/1956
The Best Part
Character:Gérard Bailly
Release Date:30/12/1955
Heroes and Sinners
Character:Villeterre
Release Date:12/09/1955
Woman of the River
Character:Enzo Cinti
Release Date:29/12/1954
Loves of Three Queens
Character:Napoleon Bonaparte (segment: Napoleon and Josephine)
Release Date:24/12/1954
The Fate of Two Queens
Character:Napoleon Bonaparte
Release Date:24/12/1954
Father Brown
Character:Inspector Dubois
Release Date:08/06/1954
They Who Dare
Character:Captain George Two
Release Date:02/02/1954
The Heart of the Matter
Character:Yusef
Release Date:03/11/1953
The Sword and the Rose
Character:Dauphin of France
Release Date:23/07/1953
Endless Horizons
Character:(voice)
Release Date:26/04/1953
Sea Devils
Character:Napoleon
Release Date:12/04/1953
Le Costaud des Batignolles
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:30/04/1952
The Night Is My Kingdom
Character:Lionel Moreau
Release Date:09/08/1951
Mr. Peek-a-Boo
Character:Maurice
Release Date:06/04/1951
Without Leaving an Address
Character:Un journaliste
Release Date:17/01/1951
Here Is the Beauty
Character:Bruno
Release Date:21/04/1950
Sorceror
Character:(uncredited)
Release Date:27/01/1950
Du Guesclin
Character:Le Dauphin
Release Date:03/06/1949
The Secret of Mayerling
Character:(uncredited)
Release Date:07/05/1949
Jo la Romance
Character:Roland Grenier
Release Date:04/03/1949
Antoine & Antoinette
Character:Le client galant
Release Date:27/09/1947
Little Nothings
Character:Philinte
Release Date:11/04/1941
Television Appearances
Vivement dimanche
Character:Self
Sacrée Soirée
Character:Self
Nulle part ailleurs
Character:Self
Matin Bonheur
Character:Self
Champs-Elysées
Character:Self
Système 2
Character:Self
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
Character:Self
Apostrophes
Character:Self
Spécial cinéma
Character:Self
Le Grand Échiquier
Character:Self
Le Grand Échiquier
Character:Self - Main Guest
Samedi soir
Character:Self
À bout portant
Character:Self
Cinépanorama
Character:Self
Images
