Roger Pierre

On 30 August 1923 in Paris, a boy who went on to become a member of an iconic comedy duo that lead to many shows, three feature films and several series of television programs was born to French women named, Martha. That boy was Roger Pierre though popular belief is that his real name was Jean Le Gall. Although one can’t fail to notice that Jean Le Gall is the name of his character in the didactic film ‘My American Uncle’ of Alain Resnais.

It is actually impossible to talk about Pierre, without mentioning Jean-Marc Thibault. This great artist formed with Thibault an iconic team in an era of ORTF, unified for over forty years that inspired a generation. It all started in 1947 when Roger Pierre debuted in the company of Jean-Marc Thibault as an advertising announcer on Radio Luxembourg, the Cave of the Republic. They begin a long career of Parisian writing some 3000 sketches, combining texts, mimes, and songs produced by Maritie and Gilbert Carpentier on Radio Luxembourg. One of their most famous sketches was The Civil War.

In 1976, they went on to pursue their individual careers in which Pierre continued to theater and cinema. However, the pair remained inseparable in the collective imagination of generations of viewers and movie goers. Roger Pierre has seen a movie career, scattered over the 50s and 60s, composed of many nanars more or less forgotten. Some we can mention: The Norman Hole (1952) with Bourvil and Bardot, The Gendarme Champignol (1958) with Christmas Roquevert and Jean Richard, The local trains are there (1960) with Louis de Funes, The Malabar are perfume (1966) with Thibault, Darry Cowl, and Francis Blanche. Among the latest movie till date is Olé! (2005) with Gad Elmaleh and Gérard Depardieu.

Roger Pierre also shot twice with Alain Resnais, first in My American Uncle (1980), where he was one of the three main characters with Nicole Garcia and Depardieu, and then in 2009, in his last appearance in cinema in the Wild Grass. Roger Pierre was also one of the oldest voices of Big Heads RTL that was a religious program hosted by Philippe Bouvard. And on 23 January 2010, Pierre lost a long fight with cancer and is survived by his family and inconsolable friends. Pierre was buried on, January 28, 2010, in the municipal cemetery of Saint-Ouen alongside his beloved mother, Martha, who died in 1965. It won’t be wrong to say that Jean-Marc Thibault is now a widower.