Claire Maurier, all the French knew her face; his name, more rarely. Such is the eternal curse of supporting roles: we always know roughly who they are, but never what their name is. And yet, without them, there is no cinema, whether from here or elsewhere. Odette Michelle Suzanne Agramon, better known under the pseudonym Claire Maurier, died at the ripe old age of 97. She was one of those who work in the shadows, these eternal scroungers of the seventh art. We only knew her one husband, Jean-Renaud Garcia, theater director. He was always discreet, only coming out of the shadows to announce AFP the death of the woman whose life he shared for decades.
The first appearances of the deceased date back to the very beginning of the 1950s, in films that it would be difficult to describe as unforgettable. Indeed, who still remembers Tonight the petticoats are flying (1956), by Dimitri Kirsanoff, or by That rascal Anatole (1950), by Émile Couzinet, then mogul of provincial cinema? Despite the modesty of her roles, she toured under the direction of the elite of the time, Édouard Molinaro and Claude Sautet. Her natural sensuality (her Catalan origins, perhaps?) made her noticed by a certain François Truffaut who, in 1959, propelled her higher into the credits by offering her a finally consistent role in The Four Hundred Blows : that of the tyrannical mother of young Antoine Doinel, here played by Jean-Pierre Léaud.
La révélation de Butter Cooking…
In 1963, she stood out for good, surrounded by two cinema monsters, Bourvil and Fernandel, in Butter Cookingby Gilles Grangier. And here she is a polygamist, having married the first while she is still married to the second. The filming was not heavenly, Fernandel being known to be a “scene eater “, doing everything possible to eclipse his partner, renowned for his immense kindness. Thus Bourvil will fight, two years later, with the director Gérard Oury so that in Le CorniaudLouis de Funès benefits from more scenes highlighting him. In the meantime, Claire Maurier must struggle to exist between these two stars. At least her face is starting to be better known to the general public, even if no one can still say what her name is. It doesn’t matter to her, as she also deploys her talents on stage: twenty-four plays, from 1952 to 2010, that’s not insignificant. Without forgetting television, where we find her name sixteen times in series and dramas, while she makes nearly fifty films. We have had worse records.
And then, The Crazy Cage…
In 1978, when Édouard Molinaro adapted for the cinema The Crazy Cagethe play by Jean Poiret, he must find who will play Simone Deblon, the woman who, one drunken evening, caused Renato Baldi (Ugo Tognazzi) to succumb, who was not yet living as a couple with Zaza Napoli (Michel Serrault), while having abandoned the fruit of their fleeting love, an adorable little Laurent. The filmmaker thinks of Claire Maurier and the obvious becomes obvious: who else but her? And in this role of tender mother, she excels. Which perhaps explains why she will now be given to the roles of mother – not always maternal, of course. It will therefore be, in 1996, A family resemblanceby Cédric Klapisch, where she shines brightly as a possessive mother, constantly reprimanding one of her sons, Jean-Pierre Bacri, accusing him of running a simple bistro when he could have opened a pub. Her resentment is still transferred to her daughter-in-law, Catherine Frot, perpetually accused of not being up to her other son, Wladimir Yordanoff, her eternal favorite. She is both atrocious but also so human. Her acting is full of nuances, going from contained tenderness to uninhibited nastiness Only problem: she remains the eternal anonymous of French cinema, despite a César for Best Supporting Actress, obtained in 1980 for A bad sonby Claude Sautet, where she plays, not a mother, but a cumbersome mistress.
La Tête en frichebad as scabies…
In 2010, it will be La Tête en fricheby Jean Becker, with, once again, a performance as a possessive mother, loving and repulsive at the same time, who tortures Gérard Depardieu, whose confusing naivety and pure heart she cannot stand. In the meantime and in 2001, she burst onto the screen in The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulainas a bar owner, barely less jovial. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director of this international success, knows his classics and Claire Maurier could not escape him. This film, precisely, was in line with traditional French cinema, with its faces: Dominique Pinon, Rufus, Michel Robin or Ticky Holgado. Thus he paid homage to the masters who preceded him.
Now, dear reader friends, you will no longer have the slightest excuse for not knowing the name of the beautiful Claire Maurier.
/2026/05/10/6a005bb6374cb591976398.jpg "Ligue 2: LFP opens investigation after Bastia")
