Jacky Boufroura, better known as Jacques Villeret (6 February 1951 – 28 January 2005) was a French actor.
Born in France from an Algerian Kabyle father and a French mother, he was best known for his rotund build, his balding and his roles of naive and clumsy but well-meaning guys, either in comedies or in dramatic films.
He passed away on January 28, 2005 from an hemorrhage following an hepatitis, at age 53.
Selected filmography:
- La Soupe aux choux (1981) as the alien, nicknamed "La Denrée"
- Gramps Is in the Resistance (1983) as Reichsminister Ludwig von Apfelstrudel
- Danton (1983) as General Westermann
- Hold-up (1985) as Jérémie Planchet (the taxi driver)
- The Dinner Game (1998) as François Pignon
- A Crime in Paradise (2001) as Joseph "Jojo" Braconnier
- Strange Gardens (2003) as Jacques Pouzay
- Iznogoud (2005 Live-Action Adaptation) as Caliph Haroun El Poussah
Tropes & Trivia applying to his roles:
- Nice Guy: Many of his roles were variations on this, with varying degrees of naivety and clumsiness.
- Posthumous Credit: The last four films he appeared in — Iznogoud, L'Antidote, Les Âmes grises and Les Parrains — were all released after his death.
- Role Reprise: He inaugurated the Francis Veber stage play The Dinner Game in 1993, and reprised the role of François Pignon in The Film of the Play in 1998 (also directed by Veber).
