Why the son of Louis de Funes filmed only with his father and did not fulfill his dream

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

This charming young man with sly eyes once turned the heads of the girls-moviegoers. But the "adult" roles of Olivier de Funes can not be remembered - they were not. As there was not a single film where he would appear independently of Louis de Funes. Only his father dreamed of a brilliant acting career for Olivier, de Funes Jr. himself set himself a completely different goal.

Son of Louis de Funes and Jeanne de Maupassant

Olivier de Funes did not repeat the image of his father, did not imitate him, and this, perhaps, was one of the secrets of his charm, because the external similarity of the two de Funes was still striking, as well as the fact that both were truly "loved by the camera" … Louis de Funes himself insisted that the youngest son act in films with him, guessing his talent and ability to work and achieve results. Perhaps, it is true that there was a second reason - the son of the great French comedian dreamed of becoming a race car driver, and given his perseverance and ability to go to the goal, one could be afraid that he would achieve his goal.

Olivier was born on August 11, 1949, his mother, Jeanne Augustine Barthelemy de Maupassant, the great-niece of the French writer, became the second wife of Louis de Funes. The first marriage - with Germaine Carroyer - although it led to the birth of Daniel's son, nevertheless turned out to be short-lived and fragile, so much so that both wives of Louis de Funes - the old and the new - were able to establish a rather warm relationship. The first couple was born Patrick, the second - Olivier.

Then the brothers will write a book about their father, his biography entitled "Don't talk too much about me, my children!" This phrase of Louis de Funes had a continuation: "… there are so many people on earth that are much more interesting than me!" The family was happy and friendly, the brothers recalled how they went with their father to the circus, where de Funes Sr. rejoiced at the sight of clowns and was upset when looking at animals. My father hated crowds and big holidays, bullfighting and rifle shots, politics and hunting.

Parents gave their sons a really good example and good upbringing, this is also evident from the way Olivier de Funes remembers his father - with love and respect, albeit not without playful intonations. He was seen in this way or something like that on the screen, and somehow Olivier's characters do not seem outdated even at the present time, already infinitely far from the world in which Louis de Funes once lived and played.

Roles in famous films

In 1965, at the initiative of his father, Olivier de Funes played his first role in the film "Fantômas Raged", the role of Misha, the younger brother of the photographer Helene. Of course, my father, "Commissioner Juve", was also nearby on the set. Since then, almost every year in the films of Louis de Funes there was also work for his youngest son. Olivier played the role of the chef's apprentice and godson in Monsieur Septim's Restaurant, twice as the protagonist's son, in the films Big Vacation and Frozen. In the film "Orchestra Man" he got the role of the nephew of the choreographer Evans, and in the last, sixth film "Climbing on a Tree" - the role of one of the hitchhikers who got stuck in a tree in the car of the character of Louis de Funes, Henri Rubier.

By the way, in two of these six films the “wife” of Louis de Funes was also filmed, but not the real one, but the “on-screen” one - Claude Jansac. And either the outward resemblance between Claude and Jeanne de Funes affected, or the whole thing is in the talent of the actors, but the movie trio, consisting of two de Funes and Zhansak, looked very convincingly like a real family, only too funny.

The beginning of the career of a young actor seemed promising, moreover, he was a bit of a musician, played percussion instruments. This skill was used by Olivier and the directors, in "Big Holidays" and in "The Man-Orchestra" his characters had a chance to pick up drumsticks.

In 1971, Olivier began to play in the Oscar performance, which was staged at the Palais Royal Theater in Paris. The main role - the role of Bertrand Barnier, of course, belonged to Louis de Funes.

Retirement from the cinema and career in aviation

And in 1973, the younger de Funes finally made the decision to leave acting in the past and switch to achieving an old dream - to become a pilot, not just a racing car, but an airplane. It did not work right away - for several years Olivier was unemployed due to the difficult state of affairs in civil aviation, but finally he became the co-pilot of Air Inter, and then received the position of a pilot of Air France flights. He retired in 2010.

The life of Olivier de Funes has always been as far from publicity as possible for the son of one of the most popular actors in France. Actually, it was this family connection that became the reason for the younger de Funes to remind about himself, in 2005 that very book, written in collaboration with his older brother, was born.

Five years ago, Olivier had a chance to remember his acting past. He was invited by director Jamel Debuz to voice one of the roles in the cartoon Why I Didn't Eat My Father. The character of the assistant chef, according to Debuze of the cartoon, had to resemble the features and character of Louis de Funes, and who, if not the son of the actor, who worked with his father so many times on the set, could best reproduce the necessary intonations!

Olivier de Funes married in 1977 to Dominique Vatran, known for her political activities. Three children were born in the marriage - daughter Julia and two twin sons, Adrian and Charles. None of them chose the acting profession.

Many fans of the work of the famous comedian were interested in the question, what actually connected Louis de Funes with his "on-screen wife" Claude Jansac … There was a lot of gossip. After all, this creative union has existed for many years.