Jacques Sereys

Jacques Sereys — Biography

Jacques Sereys was a French actor and theatre director best known for his readings of the classical repertoire at the Comédie-Française. His success in Molière's plays carried him to honorary membership of the company; he received the Molière Award and the Prix du Brigadier, and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour and a Commander of both the National Order of Merit and the Order of Arts and Letters. He is also remembered for turning his comic appearance to good effect in classical roles.

He grew up in Marseille with his mother, an embroiderer, and at fourteen began earning money at Crédit Lyonnais. In 1951 he was admitted to the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique, where he attended Henri Rollan's classes. He joined the Comédie-Française in 1955 and became a full sociétaire in 1959. In 1964 he left to devote himself to boulevard theatre, where he met Jacques Charon and Robert Hirsch; he returned in 1977 and regained his membership in 1979. After retiring in 1997 he kept performing regularly until 2014.

He entered cinema with Molière (1956) and appeared in The Fire Within (1963), La Chamade, Murmur of the Heart (1971) and On Guard (1997), among others. He played the foreign minister in Le Bon Plaisir, the defence minister in Operation Corned Beef and the governor in Le Bal du gouverneur. He married Philippine de Rothschild; their children, Camille and Philippe, own Château Mouton Rothschild. He died in Paris aged 94.