Richard Berry

Biography: life and films

Richard Berry was born in Paris on 31st July 1950. He had a younger brother and sister and his parents ran an off-the-peg clothes shop in Boulogne-Billancourt. By the age of 16, he had made up his mind to become an actor and he cut his acting teeth with an amateur theatrical troupe that performed classical works. He was admitted to the Conservatoire, France's top drama school, in 1969, and graduated in 1973 with the first prize. He then joined the Comédie Française, where he stayed for the next seven years. He had bit parts in a couple of films in the early 1970s, but his first substantial film role was in Élie Chouraqui's Mon premier amour (1978), in which he starred alongside Anouk Aimée and Nathalie Baye. He then appeared in Nadine Trintignant's Premier voyage (1980) and Michel Vianey's thriller Un assassin qui passe (1981), before taking on his first comedic role in Gilles Béhat's Putain d'histoire d'amour (1981).

After this promising beginning, Berry's career took off with a vengeance in 1982. In this year, he had prominent roles in two box office hits, Alexandre Arcady's Le Grand pardon and Bob Swaim's La Balance, both of which allowed him to cultivate a tougher screen image. The same year also offered him a spectacular misfire, as the romantic lead in Jacques Demy's Une chambre en ville, a film that has gained somewhat in stature since its disastrous first release. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Berry maintained a high profile on French cinema screens, demonstrating his versatility in a wide range of dramatic and comedic roles.

In 1992, the actress-turned-director Christine Pascal gave Berry one of his most sensitive and humane roles in Le Petit prince a dit (1992), playing the devoted father of a little girl suffering from a terminal brain illness. This is the only role for which Berry has so far been nominated for a César. He was on similarly fine form in Henri Verneuil's final two films, Mayrig (1992) and 588 rue paradis (1993). Another director Berry had a great admiration for was Alexandre Arcady, who made good use of his talents in many of his films, including Le Grand carnaval (1983), L'Union sacrée (1989), K (1997) and Entre chiens et loups (2002).

From the mid-1990s, Richard Berry's talent as a comic actor revealed itself in a string of colourful comedies which included Josiane Balasko's Un grand cri d'amour (1998), Gabriel Aghion's Pédale douce (1996) and Patrick Timsit's Quasimodo d'El Paris (1999). In 2001, Berry made his directing debut with L'Art (délicat) de la séduction, repaying Timsit by offering him the lead role, alongside a promising debutante, Cécile de France. He followed this with another comedy, Moi César, 10 ans 1/2, 1,39 m (2003), and two respectable thrillers, La Boîte noire (2005) and L'Immortel (2010). In all four of these films, Berry directed his daughter, Joséphine Berry. In 2005, Berry donated a kidney to his sister, Marie, who had been afflicted with Alport syndrome - an act that raised public awareness in France about organ donation.

The Berry-Timsit double act that had been so successful in Quasimodo d'El Paris was reprised in L'Emmerdeur (2008), a remake of a French classic directed by Francis Veber, who also cast Berry in Tais-toi! (2003) and La Doublure (2006). Berry's popular appeal, commitment and versatility continue to make him an attractive proposition for both established and debutant filmmakers, and even in films that are far from perfect he seldom fails to turn in a compelling and truthful performance. In the past forty years, Richard Berry has appeared in over one hundred films for cinema and television and, still bubbling with enthusiasm, he shows no sign of bowing out just yet.

Filmography

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