Jean-Marc Thibault

Jean-Marc Thibault was born in Saint-Bris-le-Winey, France in 1923. His sister later married politician Lionel Jospin. After following theatre classes at the course Simon, Thibault worked in dance halls and also played sketches in cabarets. His first appearance in the cinema was in in Premier de cordée (1944, Louis Daquin). Together with Roger Pierre, he began a long career as a comedy duo in Parisian cabarets such as le Tabou, le Caveau de la Terreur, l'Amiral, and le Moulin-Rouge. The men wrote some 3,000 sketches and songs together. They appeared in many TV shows of Maritie and Gilbert Carpentier and also co-starred in several film comedies. These films included La Vie est belle/Life is Beautiful (1956, Roger Pierre, Jean-Marc Thibault), Vive les vacances/Gimme A Break (1958, Jean-Marc Thibault) written by Thibault and Pierre, Les Motards/The Motorcycle Cops (1959, Jean Laviron) also with Francis Blanche and co-written by Thibault and Pierre, Un cheval pour deux/A Horse for Two (1961, Jean-Marc Thibault) and Faites donc plaisir aux amis/So be happy with friends (1969, Francis Rigaud). Together they also appeared in supporting parts in many other film comedies such as Nous irons à Deauville/We go to Deauville (1962, Francis Rigaud) with Louis de Funès, and Les Baratineurs/The Talkers (1965, Francis Rigaud) starring Jean Poiret. Between 1967 and 1970, Thibault and Pierre also presented the TV show Les Grands Enfants/ Big Kids. From 1972 until 1975 they made everybody in France laugh with their historical comedy shows Les maudits rois fainéants/The Damned Lazy Kings and Les z'heureux rois z'Henri/The Happy Kings Henry. Their final films together were the comedies En grandes pompes/With Great Fanfare (1974, André Teisseire) with Ginette Leclerc, and Gross Paris (1974, Gilles Grangier). In 1976 and after 28 years together, the artistic ways of Jean-Marc Thibault and Roger Pierre parted. Thibault was engaged by prolific director Yves Boisset for the Policier La Femme flic/Woman Cop (1978, Yves Boisset) alongside Miou-Miou. He also appeared that year in Vaudeville (1978, Jean Marboeuf). From 1985 to 1993, he starred in the hit television series Maguy, and in La Tête en l'air/The Head in the Air, for which the screenplay was written by his wife, Sophie Agacinski. In 2001 Thibault returned to the cinema with two feature films: De l'amour/From love (2001, Jean-Francois Richet) and Vidocq (2001, Pitof). The following year, he appeared in Féroc/ Fierce (2002, Gilles de Maistre) alongside Samy Naceri. Thibault and Pierre twice reunited. In 1984 they worked together for the spectacle Nos premiers adieux at the Théâtre Antoine in Paris, and again in 1990 at l'Olympia. Roger Pierre, died of cancer in 2010 at the age of 86. Jean Marc Thibault is the father of Xavier and Frédéric Thibault, the leaders of the Grand Orchestre du Splendid, and of actor and director Alexander Thibault.