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Gérard Oury

Gérard Oury

Known For Directing
Birthday Apr 29, 1919
Died Jul 19, 2006 (87)
Birthplace Paris, France
Popularity 0.6 (history)
Updated May 24, 2026
Entry Date Apr 13, 2024
Links TMDb IMDb
Biography

Gérard Oury (born Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum; 29 April 1919 – 20 July 2006) was a French film director, actor and writer. He is best known for a number of comedies he directed and co-wrote between the 1960s and 1980s, most notably The Sucker (1965), Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At! (1966), Th ... e Brain (1969), The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (1973), and Ace of Aces (1982). Max-Gérard Houry-Tannenbaum was the only son of Serge Tannenbaum, a violinist of Russian-Jewish origin, and French Jewish Marcelle Houry, a journalist and art critic. Tannenbaum was absent from the life of Oury and he was raised in an unobservant house of his mother and maternal grandmother Berthe Goldner. Oury studied at the Lycée Janson de Sailly and then at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art. He became a member of the Comédie-Française before World War II, but fled with all his family (mother, grandmother and unofficial wife, actress Jacqueline Roman) to Switzerland to escape the anti-Jewish persecutions by the Vichy government. When in 1942 his daughter Danièle Thompson was born, his fatherhood was concealed, to avoid her classification as a Jew. After 1945 he returned to the liberated Paris and restarted his career as an actor, performing in the theatre and in supporting roles in the cinema. Oury became a movie director in 1959 (The Itchy Palm) and gained his first success in 1961 with Crime Does Not Pay (Le crime ne paie pas). Pairing André Bourvil and Louis de Funès as a comic duo, he burst into commercial filmmaking with 1965's The Sucker (Le corniaud). The film was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival. The following year, Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At! (La Grande Vadrouille) was even more successful, attracting the largest audiences ever in France (17.27 million admissions). This box-office record stood for decades, only surpassed in 1997 by Titanic from James Cameron. Oury shot the 1969 comedy Le Cerveau (The Brain) in English, starring David Niven in the lead role as a criminal mastermind. With actress Jacqueline Roman, he was the father of French writer Danièle Thompson and grandfather of actor/writer Christopher Thompson. He lived together with the French actress Michèle Morgan for the second half of his life. He died aged 87 in Saint-Tropez on 20 July 2006. Source: Article "Gérard Oury" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Known For

Headshots

Profile
Profile
Profile
Filmography

The Prize

The Prize

1963

as Claude Marceau

The Journey

The Journey

1959

as Teklel Hafouli

House of Secrets

House of Secrets

1956

as Julius Pindar

Father Brown

Father Brown

1954

as Inspector Dubois

They Who Dare

They Who Dare

1954

as Captain George Two

The Heart of the Matter

The Heart of the Matter

1953

as Yusef

Sea Devils

Sea Devils

1953

as Napoleon

The Sword and the Rose

The Sword and the Rose

1953

as Dauphin of France

The Mirror Has Two Faces

The Mirror Has Two Faces

1996

Original Story

Umbrella Coup

Umbrella Coup

1980

Writer

Delusions of Grandeur

Delusions of Grandeur

1971

Writer

The Sucker

The Sucker

1965

Screenplay

Umbrella Coup

Umbrella Coup

1980

Director

Delusions of Grandeur

Delusions of Grandeur

1971

Director

The Sucker

The Sucker

1965

Director

No data available

Organization Category Movie
Television Credits

No data available

Spécial cinéma

as Self

Episodes: 7

First Aired: Sep 25, 1974

Sacrée soirée

as Self

Episodes: 4

First Aired: Sep 02, 1987

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche

as Self

Episodes: 3

First Aired: Jan 12, 1975

Le Grand Échiquier

as Self

Episodes: 2

First Aired: Jan 12, 1972

Cinépanorama

as Self

Episodes: 2

First Aired: Feb 04, 1956

Vivement dimanche

as Self

Episodes: 2

First Aired: Sep 20, 1998

Nulle part ailleurs

as Self

Episodes: 1

First Aired: Aug 31, 1987

À bout portant

as Self

Episodes: 1

First Aired: Dec 16, 1968

Le Grand Échiquier

as Self - Main Guest

Episodes: 1

First Aired: Jan 12, 1972

Samedi soir

as Self

Episodes: 1

First Aired: Jan 09, 1971

Système 2

as Self

Episodes: 1

First Aired: Jan 19, 1975

Champs-Elysées

as Self

Episodes: 1

First Aired: Jan 16, 1982

Apostrophes

as Self

Episodes: 1

First Aired: Jan 10, 1975

Matin Bonheur

as Self

Episodes: 1

First Aired: Apr 14, 1987

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