André Maranne

André Maranne
Born
André Gaston Maillol

(1926-05-14)14 May 1926
Toulouse, France
Died12 April 2021(2021-04-12) (aged 94)
Brighton, England
OccupationActor
Years active1956–1991
Spouse
Moira Mitchell
(m. 1955)

André Maranne (14 May 1926 – 12 April 2021) was a French-born British actor best known for playing roles in English-language films beginning in the mid-1950s.[1]

Life and career

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Born André Gaston Maillol in Toulouse, France, Maranne's best known role was probably Sergeant François Chevalier in six Pink Panther films alongside Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom.[2] Before the Pink Panther, he appeared as a French officer in The War Lover (1962) and had a cameo role in the James Bond movie Thunderball (1965).[3]

He appeared in such diverse television programmes as Merton Park Studios' Scotland Yard (as a gendarme in 1956 episode "Wall of Death" and credited as André Maillol & the 1957 episode "Night Crossing" as Detective Nouvel credited as Andre Maranne), Jason King ("Wanna buy a television series?", 1971), Fawlty Towers (as André in the 1975 "Gourmet Night" episode), Lord Peter Wimsey ("Clouds of Witness", 1972), Yes Minister (as European Agricultural Commissioner Maurice, proponent of the "euro-sausage", in "Party Games", 1984, the episode in which Jim Hacker becomes UK Prime Minister), All Creatures Great and Small and Doctor Who (The Moonbase, 1967).[4]

Maranne was also one of the four co-presenters of the French teaching programme, Bonjour Françoise on the BBC in the 1960s; he acted in all eight episodes of La Chasse au Trésor (1967) as well as all 24 episodes of Ensemble-French for Beginners in the 1970s, also for the BBC.[5][6] Maranne provided English audio translation of French-speaking interviewees in the 1988 ITV documentary The Men Who Killed Kennedy.

Maranne died 12 April 2021 in Brighton, England[citation needed] at the age of 94. He was survived by his wife, Moira.[7][8]

Selected filmography

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References

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  1. ^ McFarlane, Brian; Slide, Anthony (7 August 2018). The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth Edition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780719091391 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ "Andre Maranne – TV Guide". TVGuide.com.
  3. ^ "André Maranne". Archived from the original on 7 August 2018.
  4. ^ "André Maranne". www.aveleyman.com.
  5. ^ "BONJOUR FRANCOISE – BBC Two England – 23 April 1968 – BBC Genome". The Radio Times (2319): 25. 18 April 1968.
  6. ^ "La Chasse au Trésor – BroadcastForSchools.co.uk". www.broadcastforschools.co.uk. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  7. ^ "André Maranne obituary". The Times. 4 May 2021.
  8. ^ "Andre Maranne, Actor in Pink Panther Movies, Dies at 94". The Hollywood Reporter. 6 May 2021.
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