Carlos Luis de Funes de Galaraza was born July 31, 1914 in Courbevoie a suburb in Paris. His father was a former lawyer of Seville, who became a diamond cutter in France. In high school, Louis liked to fool around behind the backs of the teachers. He dropped out of school and had various jobs. He worked as a pianist making his customers laugh by making grimases. He studied one year at the Simon Acting School, where he met Daniel Gelin. He met Jeanne de Maupassant, a secretary, and she had fallen in love with “the young man who played jazz like god”. They got married in 1943 and had two sons: Olivier became a pilot for Air France and Patric a medical doctor.
Luis de Funes continued playing the piano in different restaurants and clubs, places for short, skinny actors. His wife and his friend Daniel Gelin encouraged him and so Luis made his film debut at the age of 31. In the next twenty years he played in about one hundred film roles and won international fame through “Le gendarme de St. Tropez” and the “Fantomas” trilogy. The funny French policeman with his hilarious hyperactivity produced a highly comic effect. During the ‘70s was very popular in Europa and remaind like this for the rest of his life. Despite the fact that he became a film star Luis de Funes continued to play on the theatre stage.
His nickname was “the man with the forty faces per minute” and he became the leading French comedian. He was a great actor who starred in over 150 film roles and 100 stage roles. His passion were the roses. He had a great variaty of roses and some of them were named “Luis de Funes roses”. On January 27, 1983 he suffered a stroke a died in Nantes. He was barried in the Cimitiere du Cellier and his wife erected a monument in the rose garden of his castle.
A.V.
artline.ro editor
inchide 
Newsletter
Stay tuned with arts. Subscribe to Artline art news send directly to your mailbox by artLine.ro
