Line #11 Creator/GerardOury


1	[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gerardoury.png]]
2
3	Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum, better known as [[StageNames Gérard Oury]] (29 April 1919 – 20 July 2006) was a French film director, actor and writer.
4
5	As an actor, he joined the Comédie-Française troupe just before UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Being Jewish (of Russian descent on his father's side), he fled the country to Switzerland during the war, then came back and performed in a string of supporting roles after 1945. He became a film director in 1959 and had his first success in 1961 with ''Crime Does Not Pay'' (''Le crime ne paie pas'').
6
7	Pairing Creator/{{Bourvil}} and Creator/LouisDeFunes in the one-two-punch of ''Film/TheSucker'' and ''Film/LaGrandeVadrouille'' in 1965 and 1966 was the lightning in a bottle that made him one of the most commercially successful French {{comedy}} directors (or French directors period) of his time (if not of all time). Other classics like ''Film/{{The Brain\|1969}}'', ''Film/DelusionsOfGrandeur'' and ''Film/TheMadAdventuresOfRabbiJacob'' followed.
8
9	He was married to actress Creator/MicheleMorgan from 1960 to his death (amusingly, she played UsefulNotes/JosephineDeBeauharnais in a [[Film/Napoleon1955 film]] once, while he played UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte in two unrelated films). He had a daughter (not from Morgan), Danièle Thompson, who became a screenwriter and assisted him on the writing of a number of his films.
10	----
11	!!Selected filmography:
12	[[index]]
13	[[AC:As director and writer:]]
14	* ''Film/TheSucker'' (1965)
15	* ''Film/LaGrandeVadrouille'' (1966)
16	* ''Film/{{The Brain\|1969}}'' (1969)
17	* ''Film/DelusionsOfGrandeur'' (1971)
18	* ''Film/TheMadAdventuresOfRabbiJacob'' (1973)
19	* ''Film/TheUmbrellaCoup'' (1980)
20	* ''Film/AceOfAces'' (1982)
21	* ''Film/LevyAndGoliath'' (1987)
22	[[/index]]
23	[[AC:As writer:]]
24	* ''Film/BabetteGoesToWar'' (1959)
25
26	!!Tropes & Trivia in his works:
27
28	* AssociatedComposer: Music/VladimirCosma scored a number of his films.
29	* AuthorAppeal: Three of his comedies involve UsefulNotes/{{J\|udaism}}ewish characters (''Film/TheMadAdventuresOfRabbiJacob'', ''Film/AceOfAces'' and ''Film/LevyAndGoliath'') and the religion has some importance in the plot of at least two of them. Oury was non-observant but was nonetheless interested in the gaps between Orthodox Judaism, Liberal Judaism and non-observance. He knew nothing about Orthodox Judaism until he met a (liberal) rabbi, Josy Eisenberg, who then became his consultant on films bringing up the religion.
30	* AuthorTract: Through some of his films, he advocated for religious tolerance (both inside religions and outside) and reconciliation against bigotry, antisemitism, racism etc.
31	* OddCouple: His comedies often involve two characters who couldn't be more different and are forced to stick together and cooperate.
32	* [[invoked]]WhatCouldHaveBeen:
33	** He wanted to reunite Louis de Funès and Bourvil once more with ''Film/DelusionsOfGrandeur'', but [[TheOtherMarty had to recast]] the character of Blaze with Creator/YvesMontand following Bourvil's death in 1970.
34	** Oury and de Funès were to collaborate further on ''Le Crocodile'' in 1974. Unfortunately, it was at this time that de Funès' health worsened with his myocardial infarctions. The film was never made, De Funès considerably slowed down his film output, and he and Oury never collaborated again.

Context Creator / GerardOury