Respected French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Jean Yanne specializes in films that appeal specifically to the whims and tastes of his countryman and is therefore not well-known outside of France. Born Jean Gouille, he began as a standup comic but made his film debut as a serious dramatic actor in 1963. Yanne gained critical renown for his work in Godard's Weekend (1967) and Chabrol's Le Boucher (1969). He has often worked with director Claude Chabrol in efforts such as Que la Bete Meurel (This Man Must Die) (1969). He earned a Best Actor award at Cannes for his performance in Maurice Pialat's Nous ne Viellirons pas Ensemble in 1972. Later that year Yanne scripted, produced, directed, and starred in Tout le Monde il est Beau-Tout le Monde il le Gentil. A satire of modern French society, the film was the year's biggest hit. His subsequent directorial efforts -- Les Chinois a Paris and Deux Heures Moins le Quartre Jesus Christ -- were just as irreverent and iconoclastic as his first, meaning of course that Yanne has earned as many detractors as fans. As a producer, Jean Yanne was responsible for such esoterica as Andy Warhol's Dracula (1973).
by Sandra Brennan
biography
