Gérard Oury

(1966), The Brain (1969), The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (1973), and Ace of Aces (1982).

Gérard Oury studied at Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique, Lycée Janson-de-Sailly and Cours Simon. The recorded working language is French. Distinctions recorded are Commander of the Legion of Honour, Grand Officer of the National Order of Merit and Paulée de Meursault Prize.

• Name — Gérard Oury • Birth Name — Max-Gérard Houry Tenenbaum • Born — 29 April 1919 • Birthplace — Paris, France • Died — 20 July 2006 • Place of death — Saint-Tropez, France • Years Active — 1942–2003

Max-Gérard Houry-Tenenbaum was the only son of Serge Tenenbaum, a violinist of Russian-Jewish origin, and French Jewish Marcelle Houry, a journalist and art critic. Tenenbaum 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 (') 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. • Illustration — Oury with spouse Michèle Morgan at the Cannes Film Festival, 2001 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.

• Year — Title — Director — Writer • 1958 — Le Miroir à deux faces • 1960 — Come Dance with Me! • La Main chaude • 1961 — ' • 1962 — Crime Does Not Pay • 1965 — The Sucker • 1966 — La Grande Vadrouille • 1969 — The Brain • 1971 — Delusions of Grandeur • 1973 — The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob • 1978 — La Carapate • 1980 — The Umbrella Coup • 1982 — The Ace of Aces / The Super Ace • 1984 — La vengeance du serpent à plumes • 1987 — Lévy et Goliath • 1993 — La Soif de l'or • 1996 — Fantôme avec chauffeur • 1999 — Le schpountz Actor • Year — Title — Role — Director — Notes • 1942 — Les Petits Riens — Philinte — Raymond Leboursier • 1947 — Antoine and Antoinette — a customer — Jacques Becker • 1949 — Jo la Romance — Roland Grenier — Gilles Grangier • Du Guesclin — Charles V of France — Bernard Delatour • 1950 — La Souricière — Petit rôle — Henri Calef — Uncredited • La Belle que voilà — Bruno — Jean-Paul Le Chanois • 1951 — Without Leaving an Address — a journalist — Jean-Paul Le Chanois • Mr. Peek-a-Boo — Maurice — Jean Boyer • The Night Is My Kingdom — Lionel Moreau — Georges Lacombe • 1952 — Le Costaud des Batignolles — Récitant / Narrator — Guy Lacourt — Voice • 1953 — Endless Horizons — Jean Dréville — Voice • Sea Devils — Napoleon — Raoul Walsh • The Sword and the Rose — the Dauphin — Ken Annakin • The Heart of the Matter — Yusef — George More O'Ferrall • 1954 — They Who Dare — Captain George Two — Lewis Milestone • Father Brown — Inspector Dubois — Robert Hamer • Loves of Three Queens — Napoleon Bonaparte — Marc Allégret and Edgar G. Ulmer — (segment: Napoleon and Josephine) • The River Girl — Enzo Cinti — Mario Soldati • I cavalieri dell'illusione — Napoleone Bonaparte — Marc Allégret • 1955 — The Heroes Are Tired — Villeterre — Yves Ciampi • 1956 — La Meilleure Part — Gérard Bailly - un ingénieur — Yves Allégret • House of Secrets — Julius Pindar — Guy Green • 1957 — Méfiez-vous fillettes — Marcel Palmer — Yves Allégret • 1958 — Seventh Heaven — Maurice Portal — Raymond Bernard • Back to the Wall — Jacques Decrey — Édouard Molinaro • Le Miroir à deux faces — Doctor Bosc — André Cayatte • 1959 — The Journey — Teklel Hafouli — Anatole Litvak • 1960 — La Main chaude — Cameo Appearance — Gérard Oury — Uncredited • 1961 — The Menace — Le docteur — Gérard Oury • 1963 — The Prize — Doctor Claude Marceau — Mark Robson • 1986 — A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later — Un spectateur de '40 ans déjà' — Claude Lelouch — Uncredited • 2003 — Là-haut, un roi au-dessus des nuages — Le général de La Motte-Noire — Pierre Schoendoerffer — (final film role)

Gérard Oury was recorded at birth as Max Gérard Tenenbaum. The authorities additionally record the headings Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum, Gerard Oury and Max-Gerard Houry Tannenbaum. His recorded language was French. He was the child of José Luis Sánchez Besa. He married Michèle Morgan. One child is recorded: Danièle Thompson. Other recorded relations include José Luis Sánchez Besa.

Gérard Oury is recorded as having studied at Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique, Lycée Janson-de-Sailly and Cours Simon.