Two days after the sudden death of Michel Blanc, Gérard Jugnot could not hold back his tears during the closing ceremony of the Cinéroman Festival in Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), Saturday October 5, 2024. The actor, very moved, attended to a retrospective of the late actor’s career, as reported Nice-Morning .
Strong emotion in the audience
On the images relayed in particular by our colleagues from BFMTV we can see Gérard Jugnot very affected, sunk in his chair in the middle of the audience. At the invitation of the president of the festival, the actor briefly stood up before sitting down again, upset, indicates Paris-Match .
Michel Blanc died on the night of October 3 to 4, 2024, at the age of 72, following anaphylactic shock during a routine medical examination. The news of his disappearance was a shock for his friends, in particular those of the Splendid troupe, of which he was a founding member alongside Gérard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte, Josiane Balasko, Christian Clavier, and Marie-Anne Chazel. In a joint statement, they expressed “their immense pain”.
“A huge blow”
Shortly after the announcement of the death of Michel Blanc, Gérard Jugnot reacted on Instagram: “Fuck Michel… What did you do to us…”. Later, during an interview on RTL he shared: “It’s a huge blow. […] He was the French Woody Allen. He had an incredible sense of dialogue. » And to add: “We saw each other recently, we laughed like idiots. » During his radio interview, he also revealed: “It’s thanks to Michel that I did theater. »
The disappearance of Michel Blanc leaves an immense void in French cinema. Emmanuel Macron also saluted his memory, evoking an actor who “made us cry with laughter and moved us to tears”.
