Lhermitte, Thierry

(1952- )

   Actor, producer, and screenwriter. Thierry Lhermitte was one of the founders of the Troupe du Splendid with Patrice Leconte, Josiane Balasko, and Michel Blanc. Early in his acting career he appeared in Jacques Doillon's L'An 01 (1973), Bertrand Blier's Les Valseuses (1974), and Bertrand Tavernier's Que la fête commence (1975). He also collaborated with Balasko, Blanc, and others on the script of Patrice Leconte's Les Bronzés (1978) and Les Bronzés font du ski (1979), and he appeared with all of them in the films. Lhermitte later collaborated with Balasko on the script for Jean Marie-Poiré's Les hommes préfèrent les grosses (1981) and Père Noël est une ordure (1982). He appeared in both films.

   Lhermitte was also a favorite of director Claude Zidi, who cast him in a number of films including Les Ripoux (1984), Les Rois du gag (1985), Ripoux contre Ripoux (1990), La Totale (1991), and Ripoux 3 (2003). He played key roles in Jean-Loup Hubert's L'année prochaine . . . si tout va bien (1981), Blier's La femme de mon pote (1983), Leconte's Tango (1993), Michel Blanc's Grosse fatigue (1994), Francis Veber's Le Diner de cons (1998) and Le Placard (2001), Pierre-Olivier Scotto's Le Roman de Lulu (2001), Jean Becker's Effroyables jardins (2003), Patrick Timsit's L'Américaine (2004), and Balasko's L'Ex-femme de ma vie (2005).