Bourvil
Acting • Born 1917-07-27 – Died 1970-09-23
Biography
André Robert Raimbourg (27 July 1917 – 23 September 1970), better known as André Bourvil, and mononymously as Bourvil, was a French actor and singer best known for his roles in comedy films, most notably in his collaboration with Louis de Funès in the films Le Corniaud (1965) and La Grande Vadrouille (1966). For his performance in Le Corniaud, he won a Special Diploma at the 4th Moscow International Film Festival. Bourvil's father was killed in the First World War before he was born. As a result, he spent his entire childhood in the village of Bourville, from which he took his stage name. He married Jeanne Lefrique on 23 January 1943. After a battle with Kahler's syndrome, which attacks the bone marrow, he died at the age of 53. He is buried in Montainville, Yvelines. In his comic performances Bourvil principally played roles of gentle and well-meaning characters who were often a bit obtuse or naïve, such as his roles opposite the hyperactive, dishonest and bossy ones played by Louis de Funès. Bourvil's characters not only managed to make viewers laugh, but also to save themselves, often unwittingly, from the Machiavellian designs of his adversaries. Bourvil was, however, also capable of more dramatic roles such as the handyman in L'Arbre de Noël (1969). In this role he observes the relationship between a man he works for and the young son who has fallen ill. The audience can identify with the character played by Bourvil, just as they can in his comic roles, so often as a simple man. One can also note his role of Monsieur Thénardier in the film adaptation of Les Misérables (1958), and his penultimate role as the policeman Mattei in Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle rouge (1970). In March 1948, Bourvil took part in the complete recording of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann with artists of the Paris Opéra-Comique conducted by André Cluytens, playing the four 'servant' roles. Description above from the Wikipedia article Bourvil, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
75 credits
Un clair de Lune à Maubeuge
Movie • 1962
Le chanteur à la télévision
Les Misérables
Movie • 1958
Thénardier
Les Rois de la comédie
Movie • 2023
Self (archive footage)
Le Cercle Rouge
Movie • 1970
Commissioner François Mattei
Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At!
Movie • 1966
Augustin Bouvet
The Sucker
Movie • 1965
Antoine Maréchal
The Longest Day
Movie • 1962
Mayor of Colleville
Way of Youth
Movie • 1959
Charles Michaud
The Brain
Movie • 1969
Anatole
Atlantic Wall
Movie • 1970
Léon Duchemin, Norman restaurateur
Thank Heaven for Small Favors
Movie • 1963
Georges Lachaunaye
Monte Carlo or Bust!
Movie • 1969
Monsieur Dupont
The Big Wash
Movie • 1968
Armand Saint-Just
Miquette
Movie • 1950
Urbain de la Tour-Mirande
Fortunate
Movie • 1960
Noël Fortunat
The Singer from Mexico
Movie • 1957
Bilou
The Three Musketeers
Movie • 1953
Planchet
Royal Affairs in Versailles
Movie • 1953
Museum guard
Jean Gabin, le dernier des géants
Movie • 2015
Self (archive footage)
My Wife's Husband
Movie • 1963
André Colombey
La Traversée de Paris
Movie • 1956
Marcel Martin, unemployed taxi driver
Mr. Peek-a-Boo
Movie • 1951
Léon Dutilleul
April Fools' Day
Movie • 1954
Émile Dupuy
The Green Mare
Movie • 1959
Honoré Haudouin
The Big Swag
Movie • 1965
Louis Bourdin, metro ticket puncher and writer
Sideral Cruises
Movie • 1942
Scientist
Don't Tempt the Devil
Movie • 1963
Albert Gaudet, investigating judge
The Hunchback of Paris
Movie • 1959
Passepoil
The Christmas Tree
Movie • 1969
Verdun
A Star to the Sun
Movie • 1943
(uncredited)
Captain Blood
Movie • 1960
Baladin Cogolin
The Wise Guys
Movie • 1965
Hector Valentin
The Hotshots
Movie • 1968
Jules Auguste Duroc
Sunday Encounter
Movie • 1958
Jean Brévent
The Stud
Movie • 1970
William Chaminade
All the Gold in the World
Movie • 1961
Mathieu Dumont / Antoine Dumont / Martial Dumont
Cadet Rousselle
Movie • 1954
Jérôme Baguindet
The Mirror Has Two Faces
Movie • 1958
Pierre Tardivet
Crazy for Love
Movie • 1952
Hippolyte Lemoine, neveu d'Augustine
The Big Scare
Movie • 1964
The Hussars
Movie • 1955
le trompette Flicot Jean-Louis
Not So Stupid
Movie • 1947
Léon Ménard
Les Culottes rouges
Movie • 1962
Fendard
By the Window
Movie • 1948
Gaston 'Pilou'
Les Arnaud
Movie • 1967
Judge Henri Arnaud
White as Snow
Movie • 1948
Léon Ménard
Wear His Heart on His Sleeve
Movie • 1949
Leon Ménard
Serenade of Texas
Movie • 1958
Me Jérôme Quilleboeuf
Josefa's Loot
Movie • 1963
Pierre Corneille
Three Disordered Children
Movie • 1966
Eugène Laporte, entrepreneur de travaux publics
The Prize
Movie • 1950
Isidore Pastouret
Le Roi Pandore
Movie • 1950
Léon Ménard, le gendarme
The Dirty Game
Movie • 1965
Lalande
Bourvil, du comique paysan au génie de l'acteur
Movie • 2015
Self (archive footage)
La Traversée de Bourvil
Movie • 2022
Self (archive footage)
The Busybody
Movie • 1961
André Loriot
Tartarin de Tarascon
Movie • 1962
Priest who reinflates the tire of his moped
Clodo
Movie • 1971
Gaston (uncredited)
One Hundred Francs Per Second
Movie • 1953
Self
Le Fil à la patte
Movie • 1954
Camille Bouzin, clerc de notaire et auteur de chansonnettes lestes
Studio en folies
Movie • 1947
Self
Alone in Paris
Movie • 1951
Henri Milliard, le jeune marié campagnard
La Bonne Planque
Movie • 1964
Antoine Perrin
Hanged Man's Farm
Movie • 1945
Le bourrelier, le chanteur à la noce
Bourvil : Bien... si bien
Movie • 2009
Self (archive footage)
Lino Ventura, la part intime
Movie • 2018
Self (archive footage)
Bourvil, un homme vrai
Movie • 2016
Self (archive footage)
Comiques de toujours (Vol. 1 à 4)
Movie • 2009
Self (archive footage)
Le Tournage du Corniaud… Tout sauf un long fleuve tranquille
Movie • 2015
Self (archive footage)
Bourvil : le rire et la tendresse
Movie • 2025
Self (Footage Archives)
Belmondo: The Incorrigible
Movie • 2022
Spécial cinéma
TV • 1974
Self (archive footage)
Midi trente
TV • 1972
Self (archive footage)
Champs-Elysées
TV • 1982
Self (archive footage)
Cinépanorama
TV • 1956
Self