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Michel Blanc, star of Monsieur Hire, dies aged 72

Blanc, who also starred in 1978 comedy Les Bronzés, was the veteran ‘worried clown’ of French cinema

Michel Blanc, beloved by generations for bringing a comic quality to even his saddest characters including losers and hypochondriacs, died on Friday aged 72, his family told AFP. Blanc is remembered for his breakthrough role in Les Bronzés (aka French Fried Vacation), a 1978 comedy about holidaymakers trying to escape their everyday problems and looking for romance at a holiday resort in Ivory Coast. “He was the sickly French guy that you just can’t keep down,” said Gilles Jacob, the Cannes Festival’s former president, adding he hoped that Blanc’s popular successes would not make the public forget his serious work, such as the acclaimed and haunting Monsieur Hire in 1989.

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