Gérard Oury
Directing
Born: April 29, 1919 · Paris, France
Died: July 19, 2006 (aged 87)
Highest Rated
Biography
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.
Photos (1)
Movies (34)
The Journey
Teklel Hafouli
Mr. Peek-a-Boo
Maurice
The Prize
Claude Marceau
The Heart of the Matter
Yusef
Woman of the River
Enzo Cinti
A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later
Un spectateur de '40 ans déjà'
The Sword and the Rose
Dauphin of France
Heroes and Sinners
Villeterre
They Who Dare
Captain George Two
Sea Devils
Napoleon
Back to the Wall
Jacques Decrey
Without Leaving an Address
Un journaliste
Belmondo: The Incorrigible
2022
The Night Is My Kingdom
Lionel Moreau
The Mirror Has Two Faces
docteur Bosc
Loves of Three Queens
Napoleon Bonaparte (segment: Napoleon and Josephine)
Du Guesclin
Le Dauphin
Antoine & Antoinette
Le client galant
Seventh Heaven
Maurice Portal
The Menace
The Doctor
Little Nothings
Philinte
Father Brown
Inspector Dubois
Young Girls Beware
Marcel Palmer
Here Is the Beauty
Bruno
Le Costaud des Batignolles
Narrator (voice)
The Secret of Mayerling
(uncredited)
The Fate of Two Queens
Napoleon Bonaparte
House of Secrets
Julius Pindar
The Itchy Palm
Cameo Appearance (uncredited)
The Best Part
Gérard Bailly
L'homme au parapluie
Grégory Black
Jo la Romance
Roland Grenier
The Marines
Récitant (voice)
Sorceror
(uncredited)
Self / Appearances (19)
Spécial cinéma
Self · 7 eps
Sacrée soirée
Self · 4 eps
Champs-Elysées
Self · 1 eps
Vivement dimanche
Self · 2 eps
Apostrophes
Self · 1 eps
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
Self · 3 eps
Le Grand Échiquier
Self · 2 eps
Le Grand Échiquier
Self - Main Guest · 1 eps
À bout portant
Self · 1 eps
Nulle part ailleurs
Self · 1 eps
Cinépanorama
Self · 2 eps
Ciné regards
Self · 5 eps
Matin Bonheur
Self · 1 eps
Les Rois de la comédie
Self (archive footage)
Sur la route de la grande vadrouille
Self (archive footage)
The Four of Moana
Self - Narrator (voice)
La Folle Heure des grandis
Self
Louis de Funès, l'homme qui a passé le mur du son
Self (archive footage)
À la recherche de... Pierre Richard
Self - Actor, director, producer (archive footage)
Directing (17)
Ace of Aces
Director
Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At!
Director
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob
Director
Delusions of Grandeur
Director
The Sucker
Director
Umbrella Coup
Director
The Brain
Director
Out of It
Director
The Thirst for Gold
Director
The Vengeance of the Winged Serpent
Director
Levy & Goliath
Director
Crime Does Not Pay
Director
Vanille fraise
Director
The Menace
Director
Ghost with Driver
Director
The Itchy Palm
Director
Le Schpountz
Director
Writing (20)
Ace of Aces
Writer
The Mirror Has Two Faces
Original Story
Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At!
Screenplay
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob
Screenplay
Delusions of Grandeur
Writer
The Sucker
Screenplay
Umbrella Coup
Writer
The Brain
Writer
Out of It
Writer
Come Dance with Me!
Writer
The Thirst for Gold
Writer
The Vengeance of the Winged Serpent
Writer
Witness in the City
Screenplay
The Mirror Has Two Faces
Writer
Levy & Goliath
Screenplay
Crime Does Not Pay
Scenario Writer
Et vive la liberté !
Idea
Vanille fraise
Writer
The Menace
Screenplay
The Itchy Palm
Screenplay