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 ...
Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run. (more)
Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run. (more)
A short mime adaptation of a Thomas Mann story about a Parisian urchin who makes her living selling human heads. Lost for nearly 50 years, the movie was found in 2006 by the son of Ruth Michelly and Saul Gilbert when he found it in his mom's attic in Munich. (more)
A short mime adaptation of a Thomas Mann story about a Parisian urchin who makes her living selling human heads. Lost for nearly 50 years, the movie was found in 2006 by the son of Ruth Michelly and Saul Gilbert when he found it in his mom's attic in Munich. (more)
The guardian of a nursing home lends a compassionate ear to the complaints of two new pensioners who love each other and have only one dream: to see the sea. To help them realize their dream, the brave man steals the car of the director. She quickly discovers the ... (more)
The guardian of a nursing home lends a compassionate ear to the complaints of two new pensioners who love each other and have only one dream: to see the sea. To help them realize their dream, the brave man steals the car of the director. She quickly discovers the ... (more)
An automobile tribute (more)