Jérôme Savary
Jérôme Savary (27 June 1942 – 4 March 2013) was an Argentine-French theater director and actor. His work has democratized and widened the appeal of musical theater in France, drawing together and blending such genres as opera, operetta, and musical comedy.
Also recorded as Jerome Savary
Jérôme Savary

ManoSolo13241324 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Full name
- Jean Jérôme Savary.
- Born
- 1942. · Buenos Aires.
- Died
- 2013. · Levallois-Perret.
- Nationality
- France and Argentina.
- Occupation
- actor, dramaturge, trumpeter, screenwriter, director and theatre designer.
- Fields
- opera.
- Education
- École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs.
- Honours
- Knight of the Legion of Honour and Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
- Languages
- French.
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Documentary summary
Jérôme Savary (27 June 1942 – 4 March 2013) was an Argentine-French theater director and actor. His work has democratized and widened the appeal of musical theater in France, drawing together and blending such genres as opera, operetta, and musical comedy.
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Note VALÉORINE
Jérôme Savary (1942–2013) was an Argentine and French actor, director and dramaturge, among other activities. Born Jean Jérôme Savary in Buenos Aires, the actor died in Levallois-Perret. Jérôme Savary studied at École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs.
Genres include opera. Languages used include French. The actor received Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and Knight of the Legion of Honour.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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- Identity
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Authority files
wikidata · Q1367105 · wikipedia · Jérôme Savary
In this article
Biography
Biography
Jérôme Savary studied at École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs. The recorded working language is French. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are opera. Distinctions recorded are Knight of the Legion of Honour and Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
Savary was born in Buenos Aires; his father was a writer and his mother the daughter of Frank W. Higgins, governor of New York (1905–1907). Savary moved to Paris at a very young age. Here, he studied music under Maurice Martenot, continuing his studies at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs. At nineteen, he moved to New York, where he associated with Lenny Bruce, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Count Basie, and Thelonious Monk. In 1962, he returned to Argentina to fulfill his military service requirements. He remained as an illustrator of dictionaries and a cartoonist, contributing to the same magazine as Copi. In 1965, after returning to Paris, he created the "Compagnie Jérôme Savary", which evolved into "Le Grand Magic Circus" and finally into "Le Grand Magic Circus et ses animaux tristes". His version of Cabaret won awards in France (the Molière, 1987) and Spain (1993). He has remained active, producing such diverse works as La Périchole, Rigoletto, The Barber of Seville, La Légende de Jimmy, Marylin Montreuil, Mistinguett, Irma la Douce, and many other works. After directing the Centre Dramatique National du Languedoc-Roussillon and the Carrefour Européen du Théâtre du 8e à Lyon, he headed the Théâtre National de Chaillot from 1988 to 2000. In the field of opera Savary's first production was La Périchole in Geneva in 1982. Other important early work in the genre included Anacreon and Fra Diavolo at La Scala and several operas for Bregenz. He directed Le Comte Ory at Glyndebourne in 1997 and War and Peace for San Francisco in 1991. His last production was L'étoile in Geneva in 2009. From 2000 to 2007 was director of the Paris Opéra-Comique. Turkish actor, writer and director Ferhan Şensoy worked in his theater for a while after his graduate as Savary's assistant. Richard Elfman performed with Savary's Grand Magic Circus in the early 1970s and married the show's leading lady, Marie-Pascale (Elfman). Richard's brother, Danny Elfman, performed with the troupe when he was 18. The show, Zartan, included Danny's first public musical performance and compositions. Richard says his work with Jerome Savary and the Magic Circus helped inspire him to create the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. Savary composed the song "Pleure" in Richard Elfman's film Forbidden Zone. He died at Levallois-Perret, on 4 March 2013, of cancer, at the age of 70.
Theater
Theater
• Looking for/A la Recherche de Josephine – New Orleans for Ever (2006) • The Barber of Seville (2006) • Rigoletto (1996) • Carmen (2004) • Zazou, une histoire d’amour sous l’Occupation (2003) • Irma la Douce (2000) • La Cenerentola (2001) • Cabaret (1986) • Le Voyage dans la Lune (1986) • The Merry Widow (1983) • La Périchole (1982)
Television
Television
• La Belle et la toute petite Bête (2003) • Mistinguett, la dernière revue (2001) • Les contes d'Hoffmann (2000) • La Périchole, la chanteuse et le dictateur (2000) • Le comte Ory (1997) • Y'a d'la joie!… Et d'l'amour (1997) • Nina Stromboli (1996) • Attila (1991)
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Buenos Aires.
Birth place
Levallois-Perret.
Death place
Film
• La fille du garde-barrière (1975) • Le Boucher, la star et l'orpheline (1975)
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1367105: Jérôme Savary
Unverified · Wikidata
reference work
- “Jérôme Savary”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Honors
• Knight of the Légion d'honneur • Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Staff (based on AFP report). Le metteur en scène et comédien Jérôme Savary est mort. Le Monde. 5 March 2013.
- 2.Jérôme Savary (Obituary). Opera, August 2013, p993.
References
Citations
References
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authority record
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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