Bernard Blier (January 11, 1916 – March 29, 1989) was a French actor.
Recognizable with his rotund build and baldness, he was notable for being one of France's most versatile and sought-after character actors from The '50s up to The '80s, performing interchangeably in comedies and dramas. He played in 138 films in total between 1936 and 1988. The most memorable of his films had dialogues written by Michel Audiard, such as Les Tontons flingueurs.
His son Bertrand Blier became a renowned filmmaker and directed him three times.
Selected filmography:
- Crime and Punishment (1956) as Antoine Monestier
- Sans Famille (1958) as Renato Garofoli
- Les Misérables (1958) as Javert
- Trilogie des Malfaisants
- Les Tontons flingueurs (1963) as Raoul Volfoni
- Les Barbouzes (1964) as Eusebio Cafarelli aka "Le Chanoine"
- Le Grand Restaurant (1966) as the Commissaire Divisionnaire
- Jo (1971) as Inspector Ducros
- The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1972) as Colonel Bernard Milan
- My Friends (1975) as Niccolò Righi
- My Friends III (1985) as Stefano Lenzi
- Série noire (1979) as Staplin
Tropes & Trivia about him:
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Albert Uderzo gave his face to one of the villainous Romans in the Asterix comic book The Black Gold.
- Inspector Javert: He's played several stubborn antagonistic police officers, including the Trope Namer in 1958.
- Production Posse:
- Frequently played in films directed by Georges Lautner with dialogues by Michel Audiard, and in other films with Audiard-written dialogues as well.
- Played in three films directed by his son Bertrand.
- Those Two Actors: He's played alongside Lino Ventura in several films, the most well known being Les Tontons flingueurs, Les Barbouzes and Greed in the Sun. They also played in two lesser known pictures, a 1956 adaptation of Crime and Punishment (when Ventura's name wasn't big yet) and 1962's Les Petits Matins.
