André Robert Raimbourg (27 July 1917 – 23 September 1970), better known as André Bourvil, and mononymously as Bourvil, was a French actor and singer best known for his roles in comedy films, most notably in his collaboration with Louis de Funès in the films Le Corniaud (1965) and La Grande Vadrouille (1966). For his performance in Le Corniaud, he won a Special Diploma at the 4th Moscow International Film Festival. Bourvil's father was killed in the First World War before he was born. As a result, he spent his entire childhood in the village of Bourville, from which he took his stage name. He married Jeanne Lefrique on 23 January 1943. After a battle with Kahler's syndrome, which attacks the bone marrow, he died at the age of 53. He is buried in Montainville, Yvelines. In his comic performances Bourvil principally played roles of gentle and well-meaning characters who were often a bit obtuse or naïve, such as his roles opposite the hyperactive, dishonest and bossy ones played by Louis de Funès. Bourvil's characters not only managed to make viewers laugh, but also to save themselves, often unwittingly, from the Machiavellian designs of his adversaries. Bourvil was, however, also capable of more dramatic roles such as the handyman in L'Arbre de Noël (1969). In this role he observes the relationship between a man he works for and the young son who has fallen ill. The audience can identify with the character played by Bourvil, just as they can in his comic roles, so often as a simple man. One can also note his role of Monsieur Thénardier in the film adaptation of Les Misérables (1958), and his penultimate role as the policeman Mattei in Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle rouge (1970). In March 1948, Bourvil took part in the complete recording of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann with artists of the Paris Opéra-Comique conducted by André Cluytens, playing the four 'servant' roles. Description above from the Wikipedia article Bourvil, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

• 2023Les Magnifiques sauvages — Music
• 2022Belmondo: The Incorrigible
• 1971Clodo — Gaston (uncredited)
• 1970Atlantic Wall — Léon Duchemin, Norman restaurateur
• 1970Le Cercle Rouge — Commissioner François Mattei
• 1970The Stud — William Chaminade
• 1969Monte Carlo or Bust! — Monsieur Dupont
• 1969The Brain — Anatole
• 1969The Christmas Tree — Verdun
• 1968The Big Wash — Armand Saint-Just
• 1968The Hotshots — Jules Auguste Duroc
• 1967Les Arnaud — Judge Henri Arnaud
• 1966Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At! — Augustin Bouvet
• 1966Three Disordered Children — Eugène Laporte, entrepreneur de travaux publics
• 1965The Big Swag — Louis Bourdin, metro ticket puncher and writer
• 1965The Dirty Game — Lalande
• 1965The Sucker — Antoine Maréchal
• 1965The Wise Guys — Hector Valentin
• 1964La Bonne Planque — Antoine Perrin
• 1964The Big Scare
• 1963Don't Tempt the Devil — Albert Gaudet, investigating judge
• 1963Josefa's Loot — Pierre Corneille
• 1963Light-Fingered George — Georges Lachaunaye
• 1963My Wife's Husband — André Colombey
• 1962Les Culottes rouges — Fendard
• 1962Tartarin de Tarascon — Priest who reinflates the tire of his moped
• 1962The Longest Day — Mayor of Colleville
• 1962Un clair de Lune à Maubeuge — Le chanteur à la télévision
• 1961All the Gold in the World — Mathieu Dumont / Antoine Dumont / Martial Dumont
• 1961The Busybody — André Loriot
• 1960Captain Blood — Baladin Cogolin
• 1960Fortunate — Noël Fortunat
• 1959The Green Mare — Honoré Haudouin
• 1959The Hunchback of Paris — Passepoil
• 1959Way of Youth — Charles Michaud, père
• 1958Les Misérables — Thénardier
• 1958Serenade of Texas — Me Jérôme Quilleboeuf
• 1958Sunday Encounter — Jean Brévent
• 1958The Mirror Has Two Faces — Pierre Tardivet
• 1957The Singer from Mexico — Bilou
• 1956La Traversée de Paris — Marcel Martin, unemployed taxi driver
• 1955The Hussars — le trompette Flicot Jean-Louis
• 1954April Fools' Day — Émile Dupuy
• 1954Cadet Rousselle — Jérôme Baguindet
• 1954Le Fil à la patte — Camille Bouzin, clerc de notaire et auteur de chansonnettes lestes
• 1953Royal Affairs in Versailles — Museum guard
• 1953The Three Musketeers — Planchet
• 1952Crazy for Love — Hippolyte Lemoine, neveu d'Augustine
• 1952Grrr.... — Lui-même, Writer
• 1951Alone in Paris — Henri Milliard, le jeune marié campagnard
• 1951Mr. Peek-a-Boo — Léon Dutilleul
• 1950Le Roi Pandore — Léon Ménard, le gendarme
• 1950Miquette — Urbain de la Tour-Mirande
• 1950The Prize — Isidore Pastouret
• 1949Wear His Heart on His Sleeve — Leon Ménard
• 1948By the Window — Gaston 'Pilou'
• 1948White as Snow — Léon Ménard
• 1947Not So Stupid — Léon Ménard
• 1945Hanged Man's Farm — Le bourrelier, le chanteur à la noce
• 1943A Star to the Sun — (uncredited)
• 1942Sideral Cruises — Scientist

Appearances as themselves (18)

• 2025Bourvil : le rire et la tendresse — Self (Footage Archives)
• 2023Les Rois de la comédie — Self (archive footage)
• 2022La Traversée de Bourvil — Self (archive footage)
• 2020A Night at the Opera — Self (archive footage)
• 2018Lino Ventura, la part intime — Self (archive footage)
• 2016Bourvil, un homme vrai — Self (archive footage)
• 2015Bourvil, du comique paysan au génie de l'acteur — Self (archive footage)
• 2015Jean Gabin, le dernier des géants — Self (archive footage)
• 2015Le Tournage du Corniaud… Tout sauf un long fleuve tranquille — Self (archive footage)
• 2009Bourvil : Bien... si bien — Self (archive footage)
• 2009Comiques de toujours (Vol. 1 à 4) — Self (archive footage)
• Champs-Elysées — Self (archive footage)
• Spécial cinéma — Self (archive footage)
• Midi trente — Self (archive footage)
• Cinépanorama — Self
• 1953One Hundred Francs Per Second — Self
• 1947Studio en folies — Self
• Foutraque (!) — himself