Coluche

Biography: life and films

Coluche (real name: Michel Gérard Joseph Colucci) was a French comedian and actor. He was born in Paris, France on 28 October 1944 and died in Opio, France on 19 June 1986. Having decided that working in his mother's florist's shop was not for him, the wayward adolescent Michel Colucci decided, in the mid-1960s, that he would make his name as a rock musician. Appearing at the recently opened Café de la Gare as a stand-up comedian under his adopted stage name Coluche, he came into contact with several future stars, including Patrick Dewaere, who was soon to become one of his closest friends. Through his frequent outings on television and radio in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Coluche rapidly established himself as one of France's best-known comic performers, famous for his lively stand-up acts which dealt with the most serious social and political issues in a humorously irreverent way.

Throughout the 1970s, whilst pursuing a busy stage career, Coluche appeared in several mainstream film comedies, notably playing alongside the comic giant Louis de Funès in L'Aile ou la cuisse (1976). He even tried his hand at film directing, although Vous n'aurez pas l'Alsace et la Lorraine (1977) was to be the only film he would direct. By the end of the decade, Coluche had become a film star in his own right and his subsequent film roles were better tailored to his style of comedy. He starred alongside Gérard Depardieu in Inspecteur la Bavure (1980) and then with Isabelle Huppert in Bertrand Blier's La Femme de mon pote (1983).

Not content with carping from the sidelines, Coluche entered the political fray in 1980 by standing as a candidate in the 1981 French Presidential Election, describing himself as the only candidate who had no reason to lie. Even though he had the support of 16 per cent of the electorate (according to one poll), he gave in to pressure to stand down and let François Mitterand take the reins of power.

The years that followed would be marked by emotional upset and tragedy. After his divorce, Coluche eloped with Patrick Dewaere's wife Elsa, prompting the actor to commit suicide with a rifle that Coluche had recently given him. The incident had a profound effect on Coluche, bringing on a deep depression which he nurtured with drink and drugs. The change in his comportment may have been one of the reasons why Claude Berri cast him in his first dramatic film role in Tchao pantin (1983). Here, Coluche was showered with critical acclaim for his authentic portrayal of an alcoholic depressive, a performance for which he received the Best Actor César in 1984.

By this time, Coluche was closely involved with humanitarian causes, including support for the victims of the famine in Ethiopia. In September 1985, just nine months before he was killed in a road accident (when his motorcycle collided with a lorry), he founded Les Restos du Coeur, a charity that provides free meals to those in need in France. During his life, Coluche was famous for his provocative wit and bawdy humour; today, he is widely thought of in France as a great benefactor, a man who could engage with the problems of ordinary people and (unlike the politicians he continually railed against) was able to do something about it. In 2008, he was the subject of a biopic by Antoine de Caunes, Coluche, l'histoire d'un mec, a modest tribute to an exceptional talent.

Filmography

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