Pierre Dudan

Actor, songwriter, pianist and performer, Pierre Dudan was born in Moscow, Russia, on February 1, 1916, to a Russian mother and a Swiss father. After teaching French in Moscow, his father was appointed principal of a school in Switzerland, where the family settled when the 1917 Revolution broke out. After studying literature, Pierre Dudan began singing in a jazz club and then at the Bonnet d'Âne cabaret in Lausanne, before moving to Paris in 1936 to perform at the Bœuf sur le Toit and the Lapin Agile. He wrote his own songs, which he performed on the piano, and offered "Parti sans laisser d'adresse" to Lucienne Boyer, before enjoying success in 1939 with "Café au lait au lit", which was rejected by Maurice Chevalier. In 1942, he began his acting career, appearing in a number of films, including Jacques Loew's Si ça vous chante (1951) and André Hunnebelle's Les Femmes sont marrantes (1957), among many others. His successes continued with "Clopin-clopant " (1947), covered by other artists including Yves Montand, and "Mélancolie " (1948), which led to worldwide tours. Alongside Juliette Gréco in John Huston's Les Racines du ciel (1958), the actor and singer experienced a reversal of fortune opening cabarets and producing films. In 1962, he moved to Canada and took dual Canadian citizenship in 1965, before returning to Switzerland in 1969 and ceasing his activities after a stroke. He added a few new songs to his repertoire of some 1700, and in 1977 received the Grand Prix "In Honorem" from the Académie Charles-Cros. Author of several books, including his autobiography Trous de mémoire (1977), he received the Prix Robert-Brasillach in 1981 for Antoine et Robert. On February 4, 1984, Pierre Dudan died in Épalinges (Switzerland), aged 68.

Please enable Javascript to view this page competely.