Poiret, Jean

(1926-1992)

   Actor, director, and screenwriter. Jean Poiret was born in Paris. He debuted as a stage actor at the Théâtre de l'Athénée and later performed in music halls with Michel Serrault. One of his first appearances in cinema was in Michel Boisrond's Cette sacrée gamine (1956), a film starring Brigitte Bardot that also featured Serrault in a small role. Poiret and Serrault played small and supporting roles in Roger Pierre and Jean-Marc Thibault's La Vie est belle (1956), Jean Boyer's La Terreur des dames (1956), Maurice Cloche's Adorables demons (1957), Philippe Agostini's Le Naïf aux quarante enfants (1958), Raoul André's Clara et les méchants (1958), Boyer's Nina (1959), Jean Berry's Oh! Qué mambo (1959), Henri Diamant-Berger's Messieurs les ronds de cuir (1959), and Clément Duhour's Vous n'avez rien à déclarer? (1959). Poiret costarred with Serrault in Cloche's short film Ça aussi c'est Paris (1957) and in Sacha Guitry's Assassins et voleurs (1957).

   In the 1960s, Poiret played alongside Serrault in several films, among them Raymond Bailly's Ma femme est une panthère (1960), Norbet Carbonnaux's La Gamberge (1962), Boisrond's Comment réussir en amour (1962), Jacques Pintoeau's Durs à cuire (1964), Jacques Poitrenaud's La Tête du client (1965), Rigaud's Les Baratineurs (1965), and André's Le Grande bidule (1967), Ces messieurs de la famille (1967), and Ces messieurs de la gâchette (1969). Poiret acted in films without Serrault, such as Pierre Chevalier's Auguste (1961), Boyer's C'est pas moi, c'est l'autre (1962), and Roland Quignon's Aux frais de la princesse (1969). He was a favorite of director Jean-Pierre Mocky, acting in Les Vièrges (1963), Un drôle de paroissien (1963), La Grande frousse (1964), La Bourse et la vie (1966), and La Grande lessive (1968). In the 1970s, Poiret played in Marcel Camus's Le Mur de l'Atlantique (1970) and again alongside Serrault in Pierre Tchernia's La Guele de l'autre (1979), for which he wrote the script.

   Poiret is perhaps best known internationally as the author of La Cage aux folles, first a stage play in 1973 for the Théâtre du palais royal. It became the famous 1978 film directed by Edouard Molinaro that starred Serrault. Poiret's work on the script brought him an Oscar nomination. He worked on the scripts of other films, including Michel Drach's La Bonne occase (1964), Molinaro's La Cage aux folles II (1980), and Georges Lautner's Joyeuses Pâques (1984). In the 1980s, Poiret would pair again with Serrault in Jean Yanne's Liberté, égalité, choucroute (1985) and Mocky's Le Miraculé (1987). He played leading roles in Claude Chabrol's Poulet au vinaigre (1985) and Inspecteur Lavardin (1986), Gérard Krawczyk's Je hais les acteurs (1986), and Francis Girod's Lacenaire (1990). He later appeared in German director Christoph Boll's Sisi und der Kaiserkess (1991). Poiret directed one film, Le Zèbre (1992), which he also scripted. It was nominated for a César for Best First Film.