This Sunday, December 15, 2024, The Sunday newspaper reveals his interview with Thierry Lhermitte on the occasion of the release of a book dedicated to the good years of Splendid. During this interview, the actor returns to the brutal death of his friend Michel Blanc. A drama which still leaves many questions unanswered.
What happened last October? On October 4, Michel Blanc died suddenly at the age of 72. The media then announced that the former darling of the Splendid troupe had died as a result of multiple heart attacks caused by a rare allergic reaction called anaphylactic shock. Josiane Balasko had the difficult task of announcing the news in particular to Marie-Anne Chazel, who was performing at the theater at the time. The actress had received a text message informing her that her friend had died: “We think a lot about Michel, it was too early and too violent” she confided recently about this drama which deeply upset the entire Splendid troupe although Josiane Balasko was the only one to speak on the sidelines of their friend’s funeral. Thierry Lhermitte subsequently explained to Le Parisien why the other members of the troupe had refused to speak at that time: “We didn’t want to. We are not forced to share our pain. I don’t feel any obligation of any kind, especially when hot”.
This Sunday, December 15, 2024, on the occasion of the release of a book dedicated to the troop’s good years, Thierry Lhermitte gave an interview to Sunday Newspaper. The interpreter of Robert “Popeye” Lespinasse particularly remembered that Michel Blanc sometimes stood out: “He needed a form of recognition outside the band, which he obtained, notably with an acting prize at Cannes and a César. It was Michel, always plagued by a form of dissatisfaction. We were asked in the book how we managed to get along with quite different personalities, it was precisely by respecting each other’s sensitivities, that of Michel, for example.”, he confided, before supporting his remarks with a very concrete example: “He was anxious, hypochondriac, always with humor. When he had redone everything in an apartment, he suddenly found that something was wrong, he no longer liked it. Life in the group was as problematic for him as his apartments.”
Thierry Lhermitte pays tribute to his friend Michel Blanc
A long-time friend whose passing has left a void. “All our youth, an entire life spent together since high school, and that day, the irruption of an absurd death which confronts you with the reality of life”, he reports, while remaining animated by a number of questions about the origin of this tragedy: “We will perhaps know more in a few months, everything is not yet clear,” he believes. A death that no one can resign themselves to.
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