Line #13 Creator/MichelGalabru


1	[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michelgalabru.jpg]]
2
3	Michel Louis Edmond Galabru (October 27, 1922 - January 4, 2016) was a veteran French stage and screen character actor and theatre director.
4
5	He first wanted to become a professional soccer player, but his father forced him to take up law school. During UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, he was drafted in the STO (the mandatory labor service of Vichy France, which sent workers to Germany) and ended up in a German disciplinary camp in UsefulNotes/{{Yugoslavia}} for "sabotage". [[UsefulNotes/JosipBrozTito Tito]]'s [[LaResistance Partisans]] freed him when they gradually retook the country, and he fought in their ranks as a [[ThePoliticalOfficer political commissioner]] for the remainder of the war then came back to France.
6
7	After the war, he became one of the most prolific French actors of all time, competing for the record of most credits in his career as he appeared in about 300 works on film and television, from 1948 to 2015, most of it in supporting or bit roles. He's always admitted that the majority of his roles were [[MoneyDearBoy "bread and butter jobs"]], but that didn't prevent him from being a nationally beloved performer. He's most fondly remembered by the French public for his [[LargeHam hammy]] comedic parts, most famously [[ThoseTwoActors alongside his longtime friend]] Creator/LouisDeFunes, although he had much more range than the latter and was equally at ease in dramatic roles.
8
9	He owned a theatre building, the Théâtre Montmartre-Galabru, in UsefulNotes/{{Paris}}.
10	----
11	!!Some notable works he appeared in:
12
13	* ''[[DerivativeWorks/DArtagnanRomances The Three Musketeers]]'' (TV film, 1959) as Monsieur Bonacieux
14	* ''Film/GendarmeSeries'' as Chief Adjudant Jérôme Gerber
15	** ''Film/LeGendarmeDeSaintTropez'' (1964)
16	** ''Film/LeGendarmeANewYork'' (1965)
17	** ''Film/LeGendarmeSeMarie'' (1968)
18	** ''Film/LeGendarmeEnBalade'' (1970)
19	** ''Film/LeGendarmeEtLesExtraTerrestres'' (1979)
20	** ''Film/LeGendarmeEtLesGendarmettes'' (1982)
21	* ''Film/TheLittleBather'' (1968) as Scipion
22	* ''Film/{{Jo}}'' (1971) as Tonelotti
23	* ''Film/TheJudgeAndTheAssassin'' (1976) as Joseph Bouvier
24	* ''Theatre/LaCageAuxFolles'' (1978) as deputy Simon Charrier
25	** ''La Cage aux folles 2'' (1980)
26	** ''La Cage aux folles 3'' (1985)
27	* ''Film/CopOrHood'' (1979) as Commissioner Grimaud
28	* ''Theatre/TheMiser'' (1980) as Maître Jacques
29	* ''Film/GrampsIsInTheResistance'' (1983) as Jean-Robert "Papy" Bourdelle
30	* ''The French Revolution'' (1989) as Jean-Sifrein Maury
31	* ''Film/{{Uranus\|1990}}'' (1990) as Monglat
32	* ''Film/AsterixAndObelixTakeOnCaesar'' (1999) as Vitalstatistix
33	* ''Film/{{Le Silence de la mer\|2004}}'' (2004) as André Larosière
34	* ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania2'' (2015) as Vlad (French dub)
35
36	!!Tropes applying to his roles:
37
38	* BitCharacter: More than half of his total of movie appearances were short, if not veering on SpearCarrier.
39	* DaChief: As Chief Adjudant Gerber in the ''Gendarme de Saint-Tropez'' films, who has little patience for Cruchot's antics.
40	* HamToHamCombat: Inevitably happened whenever he was paired with Creator/LouisDeFunes, and he was more than up to the task.
41	* [[invoked]]SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct:
42	** Most of the films he played in were comedies, where he impersonates ridiculous and stupid authority figures. In the historical period drama ''Film/TheJudgeAndTheAssassin'' (1976), he played an ambiguous psychopath and he won the César Award for Best Actor.
43	** His later dramatic part as the grandfather in ''Film/{{Le Silence de la mer\|2004}}'' (2004) was also praised.
44	* [[invoked]]ThoseTwoActors:
45	** He appeared in a number of films alongside his friend Louis de Funès. Sometimes, he was cast ''at De Funès' own request'' when the latter felt he had to WagTheDirector.
46	** He was also often paired with Creator/JeanLefebvre, including the early ''Gendarme'' films.
47	* [[invoked]]WhatCouldHaveBeen: He was one of the actors considered for the role of the Abbott in 1986's ''Film/TheNameOfTheRose'' before the role went to Creator/MichaelLonsdale.

Context Creator / MichelGalabru