Bernard Lavalette

Bernard Lavalette — Biography

Bernard Lavalette came from the stage to become a sought-after supporting actor in French comedy cinema and television. His real name was Bernard Maurice de Fleury. He first worked on stage as a chansonnier and humorist, and in later years he mostly played figures of authority such as officers, doctors, lawyers and senior executives.

His film career began in the late 1950s. His role as Van Der Hogen in The Bureaucrats (1959) and the police prefect he played in Heaven Sent (1963) stand out from those early years. In the 1960s he played Doctor Gentil in Thomas the Impostor (1964) and Martel in Assassin in the Phonebook (1962); Le gendarme se marie (1968) is also in his filmography. In the 1970s he played a company chairman in Le permis de conduire and the lawyer Roger Desmare in The Apprentice Heel (1977). Un clair de lune à Maubeuge, Le Viager, La grande maffia... and The Holes also belong to this stretch of his career.

In Les Surdoués de la première compagnie (1981) he played Colonel Varalin. Born in Paris on 20 January 1926, he died in Paris on 14 December 2019.