This is the twelfth in a new series of “Getting to Know” Pages from Ultimate Movie Rankings.com. Our interview this time around is with UMR Hall of Famer Pierre. Pierre has been visiting and commenting on our website for almost 6 years. He is a Top 15 Commentor. Pierre is a member of the Class of 2017 UMR Hall of Fame. So we figured it was time to learn a little more about Pierre.
Cogerson – It has always interested me in knowing which thespian made the first impact on a person. Who was the French and American first actor or actress that you knew by their actual name?
Pierre– I have lots of answers to this question. Steve McQueen as Joss Randall, in the television series, Wanted Dead or Alive. Fernandel a great French actor, in Don Camillo, where he played a priest who speaks with Jesus in his church. Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra because I was very interested in the civilization of Egypt. I wanted to see that movie but my parents did not want to see it. I vividly remember the posters of the film. I saw it later on TV but it was really too long, I never made it to the end. And one of my first films was Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. I love everything in that film, the Queen, the Dwarfs, the animals, and the witch of course.
Cogerson – Based on your answers, it looks like the late 1950s and early 1960s had a big impact on you.
Cogerson – Is there a person in your life that pushed you down the path of liking movies? For me, it was my parents and my grandmother.
Pierre – Nobody really pushed me into liking movies. I did have an uncle who received a monthly box office report by theaters in Paris. I was very interested by the results of the films so I read it every time I could. Then I discovered a movie theater called le cinema Rex. It is the biggest theater in Paris and was built in 1932. Back then it’s capacity was 3,100 people, today it seats 2,800. I saw Dumbo at the Rex in 1969. I loved the place so much that I went to see any film that was being shown there. Of course, I went with my kids to see the annual Christmas Disney movie when I became a dad.
Although she is not a relative, I give Marlene Dietrich the most credit for me becoming such a big movie buff. When I was 11, I discovered a picture of her in an encyclopedia by Larousse. Pretty sure it was from the 1948 movie A Foreign Affair. First of all I couldn’t read her name, because and I didn’t know how to read yet. Although the picture was in black and white, the lighting was superb and Dietrich was looking like somebody divine. After that, I started my investigations to know her and of course, I found out more about classical HOLLYWOOD with all the stars from silent to talking. Today I still read everything, I watch every documentary on TV and I go to see all the classic I can. And I always will…
Cogerson – As a child in France (I am assuming you grew up there) which did you watch American or French movies. How quickly did you realize many of the movies you were watching were from another country?
Pierre – When I started my investigations on Marlene Dietrich and the story of Hollywood, I knew there were different movies from the United States, England, and France. The American actors I knew at that time were John Wayne Steve McQueen, Elizabeth Taylor, and Julie Andrews because of Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. I knew French actors better. People like Gabin, Bardot, Darrieux, Morgan, Fernandel, Blier. The first film I saw in a foreign language was Henry V. with Laurence Olivier. I was impressed, but it was very hard at that time for me to understand. Then after a few years, I always watched films in their foreign language. Especially the British or American films. And now even on television it is in English for all the series I watch.
Cogerson – Who is your favorite actor or actress of all-time?
Pierre – That is difficult to answer as there are so many options. When looking at French actors, one of my favorites is Bernard Blier, great in every part he played. He passed away a very long time ago. When looking at current stars I like Michel Blanc and Thierry Lhermitte. As for French actresses, I like Françoise Rosay, like Blier she is good in every part. She was in Hollywood before the war and she is the wife of Jacques Feyder the director of Knight Without Armure. Danielle Darrieux is the star I have liked for as long as I can remember.
International classical stars would include Paramount’s Marlene Dietrich and Carole Lombard, and Fox’s Linda Darnell. Of the current actresses, I like Angelina Jolie and Sharon Stone. And finally classic actors Gary Cooper Georges Sanders and Bogart…..with Matt Damon being my favorite current American movie actor.
Cogerson – What are your Top 3 movies of all-time? Or share as many as you are willing to share.
Pierre – So many I can’t say all of them, but here are some that quickly come to mind. USA and British movies: Star Wars, Gone with the Wind, The Full Monty, Excalibur, The Ten Commandments
Divergente, Hunger Games, The Devil in Pravda, Américan Graffiti, Alien, Jason Bourne , A Letter to Three Wives, and Sunset Boulevard.
French movies: Les tontons flingueurs, les Barbouzes, all the films with Michel Audiard as Dialoguiste la Grande Vadrouille, la folie des Grandeurs’ les Bronzés, Mais qu’est qu’on a fait au bon dieu, retour à l’aube, Madame de…, Potiche, etc”.
Cogerson – I can only speak to the USA and British movies, but they are all great movies. I will have to check out some of the French ones you listed.
Cogerson – Ever had the chance to meet any movie stars in person?
Pierre – I met some French stars like Pierre Richard, Vanessa Paradis, but I never said anything to them. When I was a student, I worked with a young French actress before she became famous. It was in a big store and sometimes we eat together or take a drink during breaks. She was very nice and she wanted really to be an actress. She was Juliette Binoche. I left in 1982, I never saw her again except on the screen. She had a great success in a French film called Rendez vous (1985). It was directed by Techine and made her famous.
While I was in Palm Springs, I was invited by the aunt of my wife to visit her. She was at a hotel where I meet a lot of stars, it was the end of a very famous festival not for movie but for music, the Festival of Coachella. I saw Diane Kruger, who was waiting her limousine, and Kirsten Dunst who was standing us. There were a lot of TV actors, and maybe Katy Perry and Rihanna… but they were so many famous people in that hotel that at the end you are not sure of who you saw.
Cogerson – That is a lot of movie stars to see in person. Laurent has a Pierre Richard sighting in his past as well.
Cogerson – This one is from WoC. In the United States…World War 2 movies have been popular for many many years. In some of those movies France is not portrayed too favorable. What is the French view of WW 2 movies?
Pierre – We have a lot thanks to say. To General De Gaulle with l.appel du 18 June 1940 who said to French people , first to resist against the German and first of all he gave hope. We have many French people who became résistants but it was difficult for French people at that time because it was a debacle and so many people were on the road, left their home, their town, their village to escape German army.
We have so many thanks for the British people who resisted and were not invaded by the Germans but they had a lot of difficulties with the bombs sent by the German arms….especially London. We have so many thanks for USA and Canada because they came to the war. That was important and good for us and all the other’s Europe. After the battle in Normandy and the libération most of the French people were so happy. The France were »en liesse » especially after the liberation of Paris. Some French people who collaborated were in great trouble after the liberation.. Last year it was the celebration of the battle of Normandy75 eme anniversary. We can’t forget, never.
Cogerson – Do you have any memorable movie experiences? I remember seeing Porky’s in theaters. People were laughing so hard, I thought the walls might crumble.
Pierre – At the Rex In Paris at the end of the Disney at Christmas everybody applauded at the end of the film. The first time I heard the applause in this theater it was for Dumbo. I love that. Another memorable experience was seeing The Sting at the Rex. It was so well directed and acted. The scene I remember the most was when it looks like Robert Redford was killed. As the bad guys left the place, the theater was so silent and after two minutes…Redford opens one eye, and everybody went crazy. It was a long ovation. Even the film was not finished, hearing 3100 persons (sold out theater) going wild was like being at a football match. Always in the Rex, I saw Alien and everybody was screaming at the moment where the alien pops out of John Hurt’s chest. It was great and terrible because nobody was prepared for that moment. I had to see it one more time before to leave the theater, I was really impressed.
Cogerson – I can easily imagine the theater screaming when the alien makes its surprise appearance. Great movie memories.
Cogerson – This one might be hard to answer….but going to give it a shot…..which movie character do you think best represents Pierre? I would say my answer is Griffin Dunne’s character in Martin Scorsese’s After Hours. The way he acts and reacts to things is exactly the way I think I do.
Pierre – Very hard to answer. When I was a child I was like Lucifer in Cinderella, lazy, bad and an idiot. He is still one of my favorite Disney characters. As a teenager, some wisdom came and I was very near the part of Ron Howard in American Graffiti and Happy Days. After I married I was near the part of Ben Stiller in the films (Meet The Parents) with Robert De Niro…dans mon beau père et moi….because I made a lot of Gaffes, ( in french in the text). Now I am wise again, but I have no idea which movie character. Maybe ….Yoda. I started like a cat, I finish like a Jedi. Not so bad….!!!
Cogerson – Great answers. I love how you went through your different comparisons as you got older and wiser.
Cogerson – And finally. I know it has been a while, but do you remember how you discover our little website?
Pierre – I was looking for Dietrich box office especially for 1938 when she was labeled box office poison. That is how I found your little website. But at that time, I think it was at the beginning there were not as many stars and subjects that you now have. I remembered at that time, one of your last pages was for Lana Turner. I found a lot of information on Dietrich via her leading men pages like Cooper, Stewart, Grant, maybe Tracy but no Dietrich. I then read in a post that you were going to do all the 50 classical stars, so I thiought to myself what a beautiful world…. all I have to do is wait and see.. That is exactly what I did. Not too much longer after that, the Dietrich page came and of course, my first comments…came too.
Cogerson – Thank you Pierre for taking the time to answer these questions. Thank you for all the support, kind words and suggestions you have provided over the years. I have always enjoyed your comments. You are truly deserving of your UMR Hall of Fame status.
Hello ladies and gentlemen,
I am very thankfull to all your comments so kind and nice, Flora, Bob Cox, Taylor, SteinHoF17, and Steve.
THANK you so much to you Bruce And WOC because it was great fun to come back in the past for that kind of things.
No trauma because I love it, the movie story, the box office, the majors companies stories and the movie palaces, good exercice for the memory in the main time.
I hope one things that to morrow will be better day …..something like Scarlet said in Gone with the wind….
Have all a good day or a good night
Pierre