Gérard Oury

Gérard Oury

Birth : 1919-04-29, Paris, France

Death : 2006-07-19

History

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Gérard Oury (29 April 1919 – 20 July 2006) was a French film director, actor and writer. His real name was Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum. The son of Serge Tannenbaum, a violinist, and Marcelle Houry, a journalist, Oury studied at Lycée Janson de Sailly and at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art. He became a member of the Comédie-Française just one year before World War II, but fled to Switzerland to escape the anti-Jewish persecutions by the Vichy government. After 1945 he restarted his career as an actor, performing in the theatre and in supporting roles in the cinema. Oury became a movie director in 1959 (The Itchy Palm (fr)) and gained his first success in 1961 with Crime Does Not Pay (Le crime ne paie pas). Joining André Bourvil and Louis de Funès as a comic duo, he burst into commercial filmmaking with 1965's The Sucker (Le corniaud). The film was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival.[1] The following year, Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At! (La Grande Vadrouille) was even more successful, attracting the largest audiences ever in France (17.27 million admissions). This box-office record stood for decades, only surpassed in 1997 by Titanic from James Cameron. Oury shot the 1969 comedy Le Cerveau (The Brain) in English, starring David Niven in the lead role as a criminal mastermind. Living together with the French actress Michèle Morgan, he was the father of French writer Danièle Thompson and grandfather of actor/writer Christopher Thompson. He died aged 87 in Saint-Tropez on 20 July 2006.

Profile

Gérard Oury
Gérard Oury

Movies

Fernandel, Jacques Tati, Bourvil, Louis de Funès - Les rois de la comédie
Lui-même (archives)
Sur la route de la grande vadrouille
Self
La Folle Heure des grandis
Self
Le Schpountz
Director
Irénée has no desire to work in his uncle's grocery shop and dreams of becoming an actor. His opportunity comes when a crew of movie makers came to his little village. Irénée begins to go over the top in order to be noticed, which earns him the traditional joke reserved to a "Schpountz" (naive person): a phoney contract and a departure for Paris.
The Mirror Has Two Faces
Original Story
Rose Morgan, who still lives with her mother, is a professor of Romantic Literature who desperately longs for passion in her life. Gregory Larkin, a mathematics professor, has been burned by passionate relationships and longs for a sexless union based on friendship and respect.
Fantôme avec chauffeur
Director
A chauffeur for a corrupt CEO, and a few hours later, his boss himself, are killed by the industrialist's associate. But their ghosts remain on Earth, and they try to tell the millionaire's teenage son the identity of the killer.
The Thirst for Gold
Writer
Urbain and his grandmother are stingy. They buy gold with all their money, and hide it inside the bricks of a wall at their country house. Jackes, his chauffer, and his lover (who casualy is the Urbain's wife) don't know this fact and think they have the money hidden somewhere. When Urbain and his grandmother decide to transport the gold (with the house!) to Switzerland, in order to pay less tax, a crazy chase begins.
The Thirst for Gold
Director
Urbain and his grandmother are stingy. They buy gold with all their money, and hide it inside the bricks of a wall at their country house. Jackes, his chauffer, and his lover (who casualy is the Urbain's wife) don't know this fact and think they have the money hidden somewhere. When Urbain and his grandmother decide to transport the gold (with the house!) to Switzerland, in order to pay less tax, a crazy chase begins.
Vanille fraise
Director
Husband finds out that his wife is a secret agent and that she has a handsome partner.
Levy & Goliath
Director
A very faithful Jewish man works making diamond dust in his family's workshop, to sell to industries. One day he goes on businnes trip. In the same train goes a very sexy girl, with some heroin bags (you guess it) very similar to the diamond bags. The police begins to chase the girl, and she hides the drug into the Levy's bag. The girl calls his boss ('Goliath') the situation and he and his band begins to hound Levy, who, by this time, selled the bags to a factory, not knowing the content. He has to get out of the problem with the help of his brother and his God.
A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later
Un spectateur de '40 ans déjà'
Jean-Louis and Anne have had their fling and separated. Now 20 years have passed. He is still dating various women. She is now a big-time director whose most recent film was a very expensive bomb. She comes up with the idea of making a romance based upon her fling with Jean-Louis. She contacts him to gain his permission. Jean-Louis is still in racing and goes away for a desert rally while she begins filming. She finds the mood of their romance difficult to recapture in her film.
The Vengeance of the Winged Serpent
Writer
An international intrigue with terrorists threatening to blow up the presidents of the most powerful countries.
The Vengeance of the Winged Serpent
Director
An international intrigue with terrorists threatening to blow up the presidents of the most powerful countries.
Ace of Aces
Writer
In this action comedy the French boxer Jo Cavalier is charmed on the train to Berlin for the Olympics in Hitler's Germany by the little boy Simon Rosenblum who asks his autograph; when it turns out his adorable young fan is a Jewish orphan in danger of persecution, he risks his one shot at Olympic glory to save Simon and his family, helped only by a German officer-gentleman who became his friend in World War I, by an adventurous escape to Switzerland, Nazi troops on their heals and braving impossible odds in roller coaster-style.
Ace of Aces
Director
In this action comedy the French boxer Jo Cavalier is charmed on the train to Berlin for the Olympics in Hitler's Germany by the little boy Simon Rosenblum who asks his autograph; when it turns out his adorable young fan is a Jewish orphan in danger of persecution, he risks his one shot at Olympic glory to save Simon and his family, helped only by a German officer-gentleman who became his friend in World War I, by an adventurous escape to Switzerland, Nazi troops on their heals and braving impossible odds in roller coaster-style.
Umbrella Coup
Writer
Grégoire Lecomte, the unlucky actor anxious to find a "real job", goes to take a screen test for a role of a killer, but gets to mafiosi by mistake. He takes their don for a producer, and they mistake him for a hitman with whom they had an appointment. Deluded Lecomte signs contract with them. He is supposed to kill gun dealer Otto Krampe at his birthday party in Saint-Tropez by piercing him with a cap of the umbrella with a built-in syringe with potassium cyanide. Lecomte is not aware that it has to be a real murder.
Umbrella Coup
Director
Grégoire Lecomte, the unlucky actor anxious to find a "real job", goes to take a screen test for a role of a killer, but gets to mafiosi by mistake. He takes their don for a producer, and they mistake him for a hitman with whom they had an appointment. Deluded Lecomte signs contract with them. He is supposed to kill gun dealer Otto Krampe at his birthday party in Saint-Tropez by piercing him with a cap of the umbrella with a built-in syringe with potassium cyanide. Lecomte is not aware that it has to be a real murder.
Out of It
Writer
The lawyer is visiting a prison to meet with a violent criminal who has been condemned to death. During the visit, things turn bad, there is a riot where prisoners escape and the criminal escapes taking a lawyer hostage.
Out of It
Director
The lawyer is visiting a prison to meet with a violent criminal who has been condemned to death. During the visit, things turn bad, there is a riot where prisoners escape and the criminal escapes taking a lawyer hostage.
Et vive la liberté!
Idea
Their feats of arms in Africa are worth to Phil, Jeannot and Gerard to be sent on a special mission in Algeria. Held captive by the Fellaghas, they manage to escape and are congratulated.
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob
Screenplay
In this riot of frantic disguises and mistaken identities, Victor Pivert, a blustering, bigoted French factory owner, finds himself taken hostage by Slimane, an Arab rebel leader. The two dress up as rabbis as they try to elude not only assasins from Slimane's country, but also the police, who think Pivert is a murderer. Pivert ends up posing as Rabbi Jacob, a beloved figure who's returned to France for his first visit after 30 years in the United States. Adding to the confusion are Pivert's dentist-wife, who thinks her husband is leaving her for another woman, their daughter, who's about to get married, and a Parisian neighborhood filled with people eager to celebrate the return of Rabbi Jacob.
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob
Director
In this riot of frantic disguises and mistaken identities, Victor Pivert, a blustering, bigoted French factory owner, finds himself taken hostage by Slimane, an Arab rebel leader. The two dress up as rabbis as they try to elude not only assasins from Slimane's country, but also the police, who think Pivert is a murderer. Pivert ends up posing as Rabbi Jacob, a beloved figure who's returned to France for his first visit after 30 years in the United States. Adding to the confusion are Pivert's dentist-wife, who thinks her husband is leaving her for another woman, their daughter, who's about to get married, and a Parisian neighborhood filled with people eager to celebrate the return of Rabbi Jacob.
Delusions of Grandeur
Writer
Don Sallust is the minister of the King of Spain. Being disingenuous, hypocritical, greedy and collecting the taxes for himself, he is hated by the people he oppresses. Accused by The Queen, a beautiful princess Bavarian, of having an illegitimate child to one of her maids of honor, he was stripped of his duties and ordered to retire to a monastery.
Delusions of Grandeur
Director
Don Sallust is the minister of the King of Spain. Being disingenuous, hypocritical, greedy and collecting the taxes for himself, he is hated by the people he oppresses. Accused by The Queen, a beautiful princess Bavarian, of having an illegitimate child to one of her maids of honor, he was stripped of his duties and ordered to retire to a monastery.
The Brain
Writer
Arthur and Anatole are two little robbers. They want to rob money, money that will travel in a special train from Paris to Bruxelles. They don't know that other people have planned to do the same thing.
The Brain
Director
Arthur and Anatole are two little robbers. They want to rob money, money that will travel in a special train from Paris to Bruxelles. They don't know that other people have planned to do the same thing.
Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At!
Screenplay
During World War II, two French civilians and a downed British Bomber Crew set out from Paris to cross the demarcation line between Nazi-occupied Northern France and the South. From there they will be able to escape to England. First, they must avoid German troops - and the consequences of their own blunders.
Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At!
Director
During World War II, two French civilians and a downed British Bomber Crew set out from Paris to cross the demarcation line between Nazi-occupied Northern France and the South. From there they will be able to escape to England. First, they must avoid German troops - and the consequences of their own blunders.
The Sucker
Screenplay
In this Frenco-Italian gangster parody, a shop keeper on his way to an Italian holiday suffers a crash which totals his car. The culprit can only compensate his ruined trip by driving an American friends car from Napels to Bordeaux, but as it happens to be filled with such contraband as stolen money, jewelry and drugs, the involuntary and unwitting companions in crime soon attract all but recreational attention from the "milieu".
The Sucker
Director
In this Frenco-Italian gangster parody, a shop keeper on his way to an Italian holiday suffers a crash which totals his car. The culprit can only compensate his ruined trip by driving an American friends car from Napels to Bordeaux, but as it happens to be filled with such contraband as stolen money, jewelry and drugs, the involuntary and unwitting companions in crime soon attract all but recreational attention from the "milieu".
The Prize
Claude Marceau
A group of Nobel laureates descends on Stockholm to accept their awards. Among them is American novelist Andrew Craig, a former literary luminary now writing pulp detective stories to earn a living. Craig, who is infamous for his drinking and womanizing, formulates a wild theory that physics prize winner Dr. Max Stratman has been replaced by an impostor, embroiling Craig and his chaperone in a Cold War kidnapping plot.
Crime Does Not Pay
Scenario Writer
Husband try to kill his wife with a help of the plan he saw in a film. But reality is not a film.
Crime Does Not Pay
Director
Husband try to kill his wife with a help of the plan he saw in a film. But reality is not a film.
The Menace
Director
Josepha is only eighteen and longs for the companionship of a group of her peers who dabble in activities on the shady side of a legal dividing line. In order to get the semi-delinquent group to accept her, Josepha runs to the police with a tall tale about the local druggist, Savary. The police are looking for a sex murderer, and Josepha insists Savary is their man. What she does not know, however, can do her considerable damage.
The Itchy Palm
Screenplay
A widow in her fifties,Madame Lacoste ,meets Jean when they both come to put their pussy in a cattery.The man borrows a hefty sum from her ,to send his sick young son to breathe the fresh air of the country ,or so he said;in fact there's no son at all.He gives the money to his mistress who claims she's pregnant by him and who wants to have an abortion.She lies too ,for she does not expect any child and she intends to help the young man she's in love with to buy a scooter.But the latter does not care about her either and intends to marry a "rich " girl ....who's actually the concierge's daughter.
The Itchy Palm
Director
A widow in her fifties,Madame Lacoste ,meets Jean when they both come to put their pussy in a cattery.The man borrows a hefty sum from her ,to send his sick young son to breathe the fresh air of the country ,or so he said;in fact there's no son at all.He gives the money to his mistress who claims she's pregnant by him and who wants to have an abortion.She lies too ,for she does not expect any child and she intends to help the young man she's in love with to buy a scooter.But the latter does not care about her either and intends to marry a "rich " girl ....who's actually the concierge's daughter.
Come Dance with Me!
Writer
Herve argues with his wife, after which he meets an appealing woman at a nightclub. A subsequent one-night stand with her turns into a tragedy when the woman is killed.
Witness in the City
Screenplay
Industrialist Pierre Verdier kills his mistress Jeanne Ancelin by throwing her off a train. Her husband, Ancelin, decides to take revenge on his wife's murderer, who has been acquitted by justice.
The Journey
Teklel Hafouli
A Communist officer falls hard for a married woman trying to escape from Hungary.
The Mirror Has Two Faces
Writer
A teacher runs an ad in the newspaper to find a wife. Afraid of beautiful ladies, he weds an ugly woman. After a car accident, he meets a doctor who offers to reveal his wife's beauty.
The Mirror Has Two Faces
docteur Bosc
A teacher runs an ad in the newspaper to find a wife. Afraid of beautiful ladies, he weds an ugly woman. After a car accident, he meets a doctor who offers to reveal his wife's beauty.
Back to the Wall
Jacques Decrey
Rich industrialist Jacques Decret learns his wife Gloria is having an affair with a young actor. For revenge, he bombards her with anonymous letters, convincing her that her lover is the culprit while Gloria desperately seeks a way out.
Seventh Heaven
Maurice Portal
"Le septième ciel" became Raymond Bernard's last film; a black comedy about a female brewery owner who donates vast amounts of money to charitable causes. The funds to do this, she raises through her liaisons with wealthy gentlemen... who just "happen" to end up dead!
Méfiez-vous fillettes
Marcel Palmer
Les Marines
Récitant (voice)
Reichenbach follows the first months training of US Army marines.
House of Secrets
Julius Pindar
Police in Paris recruit an English ship's officer (Michael Craig) to help trap counterfeiters by joining them.
L'homme au parapluie
Grégory Black
A heart stops beating and two others no longer dare to face each other. While an old lady is found poisoned, the two main suspects in the investigation see their mutual love decline behind vile suspicions. 35 years before Les Cordier, judge and cop, Pierre Mondy is already trying his hand at the role of inspector.
The Best Part
Gérard Bailly
Philippe Perrin, a young engineer passionate about his work, leads the construction of a huge dam in the High Alps. Like all the men who work on the building site, he gives the best part of himself. Unfortunately, his health deteriorates but he refuses to follow the doctor's orders as well as the advice of Micheline, a young nurse who has fallen in love with him. However, driven by the evolution of his illness, Philippe finally makes up his mind to go down to the valley for a treatment. On the very day of his departure though, a young Arab worker gets killed in a rock crusher...
Heroes and Sinners
Villeterre
A good cast smooths over the rough spots of Les Heros sont Fatigues. The scene is the African republic of Liberia, which in this film proves to be a stopping-off point for a number of shady characters. Yves Montand plays a French ex-pilot who becomes involved in a scheme to smuggle stolen diamonds. His cohorts include a Nazi collaborator, a German refugee, and the white mistress of a prominent Liberian. A romance develops between the ex-pilot and the aforementioned mistress. Meanwhile, one of the conspirators (Curt Jurgens) has a last-minute attack of conscience, effectively queering the deal. The steamier romantic passages in Les Heros sont Fatigues had to be trimmed for American consumption.
Woman of the River
Enzo Cinti
When peasant girl Nives is deserted by smuggler Gino Lodi, she betrays him to the police. Police officer Enzo Cinti, who loves Nives, traces her to the Po River cane-fields, where she is working as a cutter to support herself and an infant son, and warns her that Gino has escaped from prison and is seeking revenge. She rejects his offer to protect her. Gino finds Nives, mourning the drowning death of their son. He surrenders himself to the police and then walks at Nives' side in the funeral procession.
Father Brown
Inspector Dubois
Works of art are disappearing, stolen by a master thief, a master of disguise. Father Brown has two goals: to catch the thief and to save his soul.
They Who Dare
Captain George Two
In Greece during the war a small group of British commandoes and patriots land on an island with orders to attack two airfields from which the Luftwaffe is threatening allied forces in Egypt. The island is crawling with troops, and even moving by night the men soon run into trouble.
The Fate of Two Queens
Napoleon Bonaparte
Anthology film in which Hedy Lamarr plays 2 queens during 2 different time periods. Ulmer directed the Genoveffa di Brabante part whereas Allégret was responsible for the empress Josephine section after he left due to artistic differences with Lamarr.
Loves of Three Queens
Napoleon Bonaparte (segment: Napoleon and Josephine)
At a wedding party involving three beautiful women, a young man should choose the most charming. But a professor intervenes to prevent the verdict, remembering the troubles caused by Paris in a similar situation.
The Heart of the Matter
Yusef
Based on Graham Greene’s novel, a married colonial police chief struggles with his conscience when he has an affair with a younger woman.
The Sword and the Rose
Dauphin of France
Tells the story of Mary Tudor and her troubled path to true love. Henry VIII, for political reasons, determines to wed her to the King of France. She tries to flee to America with her love but is captured when she is "un-hatted" on board ship. In return for her consent to the marriage with France, Henry agrees to let her choose her second husband. When King Louis of France dies, Mary is kidnaped by the Duke of Buckingham. He tries to force her to marry him but she is rescued by her love in an exciting battle on the beach.
Sea Devils
Napoleon
Gilliatt, a fisherman-turned-smuggler on the isle of Guernsey, agrees to transport a beautiful woman to the French coast in the year 1800. She tells him she hopes to rescue her brother from the guillotine. Gilliatt finds himself falling in love and so feels betrayed when he later learns this woman is a countess helping Napoleon plan an invasion of England. In reality, however, the "countess" is an English agent working to thwart this invasion. When Gilliatt finds this out, he returns to France to rescue the woman who's true purpose has been discovered by the French.
Endless Horizons
The life story of famed French aviatrix Helene Boucher is detailed in Horizons sans fin (Endless Horizons). Giselle Pascal stars as Boucher, who is first seen in 1930, leaving her millinery shop behind in favor of the wild blue yonder. Though the world of aviation was still essentially an all-male one (despite England's Amy Johnson and America's Amelia Earhart), Boucher perseveres, eventually breaking all existing male and female speed and height records. A bit slow on the uptake in the dramatic scenes, the film soars (no pun intended) during the aerial sequences. Horizons san Fin was the winner of the Catholic Award at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.
Le costaud des Batignolles
Narrator (voice)
Jules, small and weak, dreams of becoming a formidable athlete. He strives every morning to practice physical culture exercises and takes comforting tablets, without success. But he meets Nénette, a woman who, when he kisses her, suddenly endows him with prodigious strength.
The Night Is My Kingdom
Lionel Moreau
After an accident, Raymond has gone blind. His family treats him like a child, but fortunately a nun comes to his rescue. She works in a center where blind people learn to read using the Braille alphabet.
Mr. Peek-a-Boo
Maurice
A simple civil servant Léon, who has the unusual ability to walk through walls, falls madly in love with a hotel thief by the name of Susan. He poses as Garou-Garou, a dangerous gangster to attempt to woo her affections, but is arrested and sent to jail. While in jail he annoys the guards by walking in and out of his cell, and keeps persuading Susan to cease her criminal way of life. As fundamentally being an honest and law-abiding citizen, he eventually handles back everything he has stolen, is acquitted by the court, and becomes famous and respected. When he learns that Susan is planning to return to England and start a new life, he decides to confess to her his emotions. However, the couple is interrupted by a sudden rush of journalists. Trying to escape in a building, they get cornered on a corridor, and Léon pushes Susan through a nearby wall. But by doing this, he loses his own wall-walking ability, and the film concludes.
Without Leaving an Address
Un journaliste
A woman in Paris hires a taxi driver to locate her ex-lover, father to her newborn child, who left her without leaving an address.
Here Is the Beauty
Bruno
Melodrama of two struggling artists whose love for each other is thwarted.She has some success as a ballerina despite being wounded by him in a fit of jealousy. His career as a sculptor is stymied when he is arrested.
Sorceror
(uncredited)
A young rogue kills an old lady to rob her. Arrested, he believes it is for this crime, hides nothing from his lawyer, who soon tells him that he is only accused of another theft prior to his crime. Sentenced to six months suspended prison sentence, he will also have to answer for the crime of the old lady.
Du Guesclin
Le Dauphin
A chronicle of the life of Bertrand du Guesclin, grand officer of the French army in the 14th century.
The Secret of Mayerling
(uncredited)
On the morning of January 30, 1889, the Archduke Rodolphe de Habsbourg and his mistress Marie Vetsera were found dead. The remains of Rodolphe are discreetly repatriated to Hofburg, while that of Mary is hastily thrown into the depths of a tomb.
Jo la Romance
Roland Grenier
For love, the singer Georges Hyverlin gives up his profession to work with his father-in-law in his car factory. When the passion for song takes him back, he manages to resume his career thanks to the support of his wife Martine.
Antoine and Antoinette
Le Client Galant
She's working in a big store, he's a typographer and they lost their winning lottery ticket.
Little Nothings
Philinte
Following a broadcast on the radio, each of the listeners remembers these "little nothings" (the title is borrowed from a play by Mozart), which have often changed their lives. Each of these stories told will prove that a tiny detail in life can change an entire destiny.