Raymond Devos

Born: 1922-11-09

Raymond Devos (9 November 1922 – 15 June 2006) was a Belgian-French humorist, stand-up comedian and clown. He is best known for his sophisticated puns and surreal humour. Devos was born in Mouscron, Belgium, close to the French border. Both his parents were French and he moved to Tourcoing, France, at the age of two. Seven years later, his family moved to Paris. During the Second World War he was sent, like many young men of his generation, to Germany to work. On his return to France, he took acting and mime lessons at the Étienne Ducroux school, where he met Marcel Marceau. In 1948, he was part of a burlesque trio (in the older sense of the word burlesque). Devos's career took off in the 1950s when he began writing his own one man shows and was the opening act for Maurice Chevalier. Although his act still involved elements of his early years as a clown (such as juggling) he was mostly recognized because of his mastery of the French language. His unique brand of surreal humour and sophisticated puns garnered him much respect throughout the Francophone world. Devos is a leading character in Alejandro Jodorowsky's surrealist 1957 debut short film Les têtes interverties (a mime adaptation of Thomas Mann's 1940 play The Transposed Heads). Perhaps his best-known international appearance is a cameo in Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot le Fou 1965 as a man sitting on a harbourside who is obsessed with the memory of a mysterious love song. He performed for the last time in 1999 in Paris's Olympia Theater. He died in Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, Yvelines, France. Because he was born in Belgium, the nationality of Devos was often, and still is, a source of confusion. Some media reported his death by referring to "Belgian comic Devos" or "French and Belgian comic Devos". He also has a Dutch/Flemish family name. Devos was born of French parents and raised in France, but was always respectful of his country of birth and once quipped that he was still, after all, a "fake Belgian". Source: Article "Raymond Devos" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.


Placeholder

Pierrot le Fou

as L'Homme du Port (uncredited)
Released: 1965-11-05

Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with...

Movie page

The Severed Heads

as uncredited
Released: 1957-03-31

A short mime adaptation of a Thomas Mann story about a Parisian urchin who makes her living...

Movie page

You Have Nothing to Declare?

as Le peintre, prix de Rome
Released: 1959-08-29

Married against her will to the Comte de Trivelin, Paulette Dupont shares her anxieties with her...

Movie page

Comiques de toujours (Vol. 1 à 4)

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2009-10-13

Movie page

La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2022-01-07

In May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became President of the Republic and wanted to bring about...

Movie page

The Right of the Maddest

as Le surveillant de la Maison de Repos
Released: 1973-03-27

The guardian of a nursing home lends a compassionate ear to the complaints of two new pensioners...

Movie page

The Sicilian

as Henri
Released: 1958-11-26

A brave little couturier from Lyon, Fernand, travels to Paris to present his creation "La ligne...

Movie page

Tartarin de Tarascon

as uncredited
Released: 1962-11-22

A well-to-do bourgeois, Tartarin lives in Tarascon, a small southern town, among friends who,...

Movie page

This Pretty World

as The abbot
Released: 1957-09-27

Pépito runs a gang of thugs with authority. He has a natural son, Gaston, a professor of...

Movie page

Les 60 ans du one-man-show

as Self
Released: 2020-01-31

Movie page

Work and Freedom

as Émile Dumoulin
Released: 1959-12-23

Due to a garbage strike, inmates are called in to take care of the garbage collection. Taking...

Movie page

Raymond Devos - À l'Olympia

as uncredited
Released: 1994-01-01

Movie page

Raymond Devos - 80 ans, 80 sketches

as uncredited
Released: 2002-10-28

Movie page

À la recherche de... Pierre Richard

as Self - Humoriste (archive footage)
Released: 2017-09-01

Follow in the footsteps of burlesque actor Pierre Richard, a key figure in French cinema in the...

Movie page

Raymond Devos - Au Palais Royal

as Lui-même
Released: 1989-06-01

Movie page

Raymond Devos - Au Théâtre Montparnasse

as uncredited
Released: 1982-01-01

Movie page

Raymond Devos, un hommaginaire

as uncredited
Released: 2016-11-06

Movie page

Raymond Devos : Les 100 plus grands sketches

as uncredited
Released: 2007-12-26

Movie page

Raymond Devos - Au Théâtre Antoine

as Lui-même
Released: 1978-06-01

Movie page

Cinépanorama

as Self
First aired: 1956-02-04

TV Show page

Champs-Elysées

as Self
First aired: 1982-01-16

TV Show page

Apostrophes

as Self
First aired: 1975-01-10

Apostrophes was a live, weekly, literary, prime-time, talk show on French television created and...

TV Show page

Vivement dimanche

as Self
First aired: 1998-09-20

TV Show page

Le Grand Échiquier

as Self
First aired: 1972-01-12

TV Show page

Le Grand Échiquier

as Self - Main Guest
First aired: 1972-01-12

TV Show page

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche

as Self
First aired: 1975-01-12

A talk show presented by Michel Drucker

TV Show page

30 millions d'amis

as Self
First aired: 1976-01-06

TV Show page

Discorama

as Self
First aired: 1959-02-04

TV Show page

À bout portant

as Self
First aired: 1968-12-16

TV Show page

Victoires de la musique

as Self (Comedian of the Year)
First aired: 1985-11-23

TV Show page

Téléthon

as Self
First aired: 1987-12-04

TV Show page