The actor did not hide his emotion… Thursday October 3, 2024, Michel Blanc died at the age of 72. After having angioedema in a radiology office as part of a routine examination, the actor succumbed to his 6th cardiac arrest, as reported by Marianne magazine. Although he had known him since middle school, Gérard Jugnot was the first to express his emotion. “F*ck Michel… What did you do to us…”he wrote on Instagram.
Wednesday February 28, 2024, a tribute will be paid to Michel Blanc during the next César ceremony. Thursday November 7, 2024, on the Télématin set, on France 2, Flavie Flament took advantage of the presence of Gérard Jugnot to ask him: “Is this a fair recognition of the immense actor he was?”. Not directly answering the question, the actor slipped:
“Oui, There was just one little thing that bothered me, which was that we talked a lot about Jean-Claude Dusse…“.
Gérard Jugnot: “He did lots of other things”
In complete transparency, the emblematic member of the Splendid troupe explained: “It’s his creation, he’s the one who wrote it, who designed it, he took responsibility for it. But he did many other things, much more… Deeper. I don't like the word deep because comedy is deep except that there is a mask! Let's say it's a little more cultural, and again, I don't like those words. It's like arthouse films and commercial films. There are no commercial films without being arthouse films…”.
Proud, Gérard Jugnot added: “You know, what also makes me happy is to see that the films we made a long time ago still exist and are still praised
while many films which had received honors at the time have fallen into oblivion. It’s a little satisfaction! There's no revenge, but it's still fun! Considering the buckets of shit we received, it's still very pleasant”.
Gérard Jugnot: “We saw each other from time to time”
Asked about what remains of Michel Blanc,
the star added: “It’s difficult to talk to you about that because I met him in 4th grade. We didn’t see each other much anymore, we saw each other from time to time (…) It's true that when we met again, we picked up the story where we left off“.
Shortly before his disappearance, Michel Blanc gave an interview to Paris Match. Was he a prisoner of Jean-Claude Dusse?
“Yes… but no”he replied before slipping:
“Because Evening Dress finally arrived quite quickly, only six or seven years after Les bronzés. There, I got a prize at Cannes and I was reconsidered as an actor. But it’s true that
in the first part of the 1980s I was only offered sub-Dusse roles“.
