French actress Claire Maurier, discovered by François Truffaut, passed away on Sunday, May 3, at the age of 97.
She was notably featured in “Les Quatre Cents Coups,” “La cage aux folles,” “Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain,” and “Un air de famille.” On Sunday, May 3, actress Claire Maurier, whose career was adorned with numerous supporting roles, died at the age of 97.
For some, she will be remembered as the former equestrian dancer turned owner of the Montmartre café in the cult movie “Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain.” Others will recall her performance as the mother of Jean-Pierre Léaud in François Truffaut’s “Les Quatre Cents Coups,” one of the most iconic films of the French New Wave, which also launched her career in 1959.
Named at the César and Molière Awards
Born Odette-Michelle-Suzanne Agramon in 1929 in Ceret, Pyrénées-Orientales, she chose the stage name “Claire Maurier” to start her career in both theater and television in the early 1950s. A small role in “Le Dos au mur” (Édouard Molinaro) anchored her in cinema. Several others followed, notably in “La Cuisine au beurre” where she played Bourvil’s wife and later in “La Cage aux folles” as Simone, the ex-partner of Renato Baldi, who owns a cabaret in Saint-Tropez. These roles showcased her talent in embodying significant supporting characters.
She thus left her mark on several generations of viewers. In 1981, she was nominated for the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing Madeleine in Claude Sautet’s “Un mauvais fils.”
In 1995, she was nominated for the Molière Awards as Best Supporting Actress for her role as the toxic mother, Ménard, in the theatrical version of “Un air de famille,” by Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri. She portrayed this toxic mother again in the film adaptation directed by Cédric Klapisch two years later. In 2006, she appeared in Catherine Corsini’s “Les Ambitieux,” then in Marc Fitoussi’s “La Vie d’artiste” in 2007, and in “La Tête en friche” in 2010. In 2013, she played her final supporting role as the grandmother in “La Famille Katz.”
