
Jacques Villeret
Jacques Villeret (6 February 1951 – 28 January 2005) was a French actor, best known internationally for his role as François Pignon in the comedy Le Dîner de Cons. During his career, he earned many awards including the prestigious medal and title of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. Villeret was born Jacky Boufroura in Loches, Indre-et-Loire, France, to an Algerian father and a French mother. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSAD) in the same class as Louis Seigner, the grandfather of Emmanuelle Seigner and Mathilde Seigner. While he was most famous for his role as François Pignon in Le Dîner de Cons; both on the stage and in the film, his other celebrated roles included the extra terrestrial in La soupe aux choux, the autistic Mo in L'été en pente douce, and marshal Ludwig von Apfelstrudel in Papy fait de la résistance. At the time of making the film Un aller simple directed by Laurent Heynemann – a film about integration and racism and the clash of generations – he said that watching the young actors in the film, Barbara Schulz and Lorant Deutsch, reminded him of the insouciance he had had as a young man with his friends at the Conservatoire. When his career was at its height, with the success of Le Dîner de Cons, everything collapsed in a tragedy mirroring the plot of the film. Villeret separated from his wife and suffered an enormous financial downfall due to tax issues, plunging him into depression. Villeret turned to alcohol for comfort, and became an alcoholic. He isolated himself and hid away for long periods. He later said: Alcohol is a friend, but a friend who means you harm. Villeret's love of his profession helped to bring his career back from the brink. In an interview in 2001 he spoke of his admiration for performers like Johnny Hallyday and Jacques Brel for their level of commitment, and quoted the author Louis-Ferdinand Céline: When I write, I put my balls on the table. In 1979 Villeret married Irina Tarassov, an actress and writer. They separated in 1998. Tassarov wrote about their life together in her book Un jour, tout ira bien. (One day, everything will go well). In 2002 Villeret met Seny, a Senegalese-French widow descended through her grandfather, Mor Diarra N'Dao, from a long line of Sérès nobles of the ancient Kingdom of Saloum, and they fell instantly and deeply in love. They were partners for three years, and she was about to move to Paris to be with him when he died in Évreux in January 2005 of a liver haemorrhage. Seny wrote a memoir of their life together, Jacques Villeret, mon bébé blanc, which was published in Paris by Le Cherche Midi in 2005. Source: Article "Jacques Villeret" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
89 acting credits
Acting · 89

Champs-Elysées
1982

Sacrée soirée
1987

Vivement dimanche
1998

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
1975

Midi Première
1975

Spécial cinéma
1974

Le Grand Échiquier
1972

Numéro un
1975

Discorama
1959

Nulle part ailleurs
1987

Il était une fois Champs-Élysées
2022
Matin Bonheur
1987

The Dinner Game
1998

The Cabbage Soup
1981

Merci Bernard
1982

First Name: Carmen
1983

Danton
1983

Gramps Is in the Resistance
1983

Bolero
1981

Hold-up
1985

Iznogoud
2005

The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish
1991

Malevil
1981

Actors
2000

The Common Man
1975

A Crime in Paradise
2001

Waiter!
1983

L'Âge d'or de la pub
2023

L'été en pente douce
1987

Another Man, Another Chance
1977

The Children of the Marshland
1999

The Joint Brothers
1986

La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président
2022

Grey Souls
2005

Serious as Pleasure
1975

The Vultures
1984

The Mouth Agape
1974

The Professional Secrets of Dr. Apfelgluck
1991

Loving in the Rain
1974

Le Furet
2003

Heart to Heart
1979

Keep Your Right Up
1987

Le Dernier Été
1997

La Petite Amie
1988

Viper in the Fist
2004

Edith and Marcel
1983

588 rue Paradis
1992

The Antidote
2005

Us Two
1979

Effraction
1983

The Castaways of Turtle Island
1976

Mookie
1998

Strange Gardens
2003

Move Along, There Is Nothing to See!
1983

Drôle de samedi
1985

Le Bal des casse-pieds
1992

Belmondo: The Incorrigible
2022

The Good and the Bad
1976

The Son of the Mekong
1992

The Do-Gooders
2005

Nailcruncher
1988

Dumb But Disciplined
1979

A Second Chance
1976

Last Summer in Tangiers
1987

Golden Boy
1996

Robert et Robert
1978

One Way Ticket
2001

Wacko
1994

Jacques Villeret, drôlement tragique
2025

Mountain Pass
1978

Mon Premier Amour
1978

Three Years
1990

Malabar Princess
2004

Georges Dandin de Molière
1997

La Galette du roi
1986

The Big Brother
1982

Black Mic Mac
1986

Nothing to Report
1973

Out of Whack
1979

Un Balcon en forêt
1978

The Drummer of Ravel's Boléro
1992

Un fil à la patte
1989

Les Folles Années du Twist
1986

Nono Nénesse
1976

Detective Story
1972

Dialogue de sourds
1985

La Folle Histoire de François Pignon - De La chèvre au Dîner de cons
2015

Le Rabat-joie
1978

C'est encore mieux l'après-midi
1987