Table of contents:
- How "The Life of a Decent Man" brought Louis de Funes to Claude Jansac
- Madame de Funes
- Cinema, theater, television
Video: What really connected Louis de Funes with his "on-screen wife" Claude Jansac
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
It is no coincidence that this affable, elegant lady with a charming smile and impeccable hairstyle appeared so often in movies next to Louis de Funes. So the actor himself once decided: Claude Zhansak is the one who brings him good luck, and therefore should become his “screen wife”. This creative tandem has existed for many years and really influenced the career of one of the most beloved French comedians.
How "The Life of a Decent Man" brought Louis de Funes to Claude Jansac
They say that the idea of making Claude Zhansak a permanent on-screen "wife" of the French actor was invented by Madame de Funes, his legal wife. She knew Claude well and completely trusted her, and besides, Jeanne understood that in order for her husband's career to go uphill, it was time for him to get a filming partner who would create a good background from film to film, representing a standard of good manners next to the hot-tempered and expressive, and therefore funny character de Funes. Claude Jansac really suited for this perfectly. In theater and cinema, she played aristocrats and bourgeois ladies. Meanwhile, in the nobility of origin, Claude was inferior to Louis de Funes, and to his wife, the grand-niece of Guy de Maupassant himself, too.
Claude was born on March 1, 1927 in the family of the singer André Zhansak and Rosa Breuer, who dreamed of becoming an actress for her daughter. When the girl was six, her father left the family and remarried. For some time Claude studied classical dance, but soon succumbed to her mother's persuasion and entered the drama department of the Paris Conservatory. Then she met her first husband, actor and director Pierre Mondi. From the age of twenty, Claude Zhansak played in the theater, and in 1952 she made her film debut, she played a maid in the film "The Life of a Decent Man" directed by Sasha Guitri. Louis de Funes starred in this film.
In the same year, Claude Jansac and Louis de Funes played in the play Without Ceremony directed by Pierre Mondi. Then the future "petty officer Crucho" told his stage partner: "You bring me success, I want you to play in all my films."
Madame de Funes
However, the first film, where Zhansak and de Funes played a married couple, appeared only in 1967, it was the Oscar, based on a play that was shown at the Athenaeum Theater. Over the years, from 1959 to 1972, Louis de Funes played the main role in this production, appearing on stage a total of six hundred times. The Oscar was shot in the wake of the success of The Gendarme of Saint-Tropez, which marked the beginning of a long friendship and collaboration between actor Louis de Funes, director Jean Giraud and screenwriter Jacques Wilfried. In this film saga about a valiant law enforcement officer from the Cote d'Azur, Claude Zhansak also got a role. She appeared in the third film, "The Gendarme Marries," where she played the lady of the heart of Petty Officer Cruchot, who later became his wife. Madame Ludovic Cruchot, she had a chance to play in two more films about the gendarme - "The Gendarme for a Walk" and "The Gendarme and the Gendarmetes".
Claude Jansac and Louis de Funes were a wonderful tandem: he is unfriendly and sharp, she is the embodiment of charm and elegance. This partnership lasted for many years, in ten films Zhansak played the role of the wife of the hero de Funes, in one - the role of the secretary.
Collaboration with Louis de Funes made Claude Jansac a popular actress. True, this creative union, although it provided the actress with new roles, often prevented her from trying herself in other projects and new roles. In a sense, she was a hostage to her status as a movie wife - by herself, without Louis de Funes, she was not interesting to filmmakers. Claude was known as the spouse of the heroes of his beloved comedian; on the street they called her “ma biche” (“my doe”) - this is how the gendarme Crucho addressed his wife.
The relationship between the two actors was extremely friendly and businesslike. In 1958, Zhansak married a second time, to the actor Henri Shemen, the son of Frederic was born in the marriage. Nineteen years later, the marriage broke up.
Cinema, theater, television
In the seventies, Zhansak's career slowed down somewhat, she acted a little in films. In the 1976 film "Wing or Leg", Claude had to play the role of a secretary in a wig so that the viewer would not see in her the familiar "Madame de Funes". And four years later, the actors met on the set of the film "Miser" based on the play by Moliere - the only directorial work of Louis de Funes. Claude got the role of Frozina, matchmaker.
The painting "The Gendarme and the Gendarmetes" was the last joint work of Louis de Funes and Claude Jansac, shortly after the completion of filming, the actor died of a heart attack. After his death, Claude moved away from the world of cinema for a long time, only occasionally accepting proposals from directors.
In French cinema, Claude Jansac has always remained the "wife of Louis de Funes", but her theatrical roles were much more varied. She played Madame de Montespan in The Case of Poisons, Marie-Louise of Austria in Napoleon II, played the roles of countesses and queens; She also appeared on television a lot - in French serials. Work remained for the actress the main business of life until the very end. In 2016, she performed her last film role, playing the grandmother of the protagonist in the film Baden-Baden. On the night of December 26-27, 2016, Claude Jansac died in her sleep at the age of 89.
About how the film saga about the gendarme from Saint-Tropez was filmed: here.
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