Thierry Le Luron was a French impressionist and humorist.
Early life
Born in Paris, France, to Francis Le Luron, and Huguette Gousserey.
Debut
In 1969, when Thierry Le Luron was a 17-year-old student at the :fr:Lycée Emmanuel-Mounier|Lycée Emmanuel-Mounier in Châtenay-Malabry, he and his friends created a band called "Les rats crevés" and performed a few gigs in the Hauts-de-Seine region. The band debuted in several Parisian cabarets, including L'Echelle de Jacob. Le Luron was featured on 4 January 1970on the game show "Le jeu de la chance," a segment of the TV showTélé Dimanche. He won six consecutive times, first singing classic tunes before choosing to devote himself to imitation. He performed his first sketches on the same program, including the 1 February 1970 and 15 February 1970 editions, even on the anniversary of Jean Nohain, when he sang for Prime MinisterJacques Chaban-Delmas and Jean Nohain. In 1971, Le Luron released his first album, Le Ministère patraque, which became very popular. He gave his first performance as an actor in Bobino between February and March 1972 and opened for the Claude François tour in the summer of 1972.
Success
From November 1972 to July 1973, Le Luron hosted his first show, "Le Luron du dimanche", on the first channel of ORTF. It was created the same year as his new show was premiered at the Théâtre des Variétés. Thierry Le Luron performed every evening with some of his friends, his last acts were poignant. The band "Le Luron" included Jacques Collard, Jacques Pessis, Pierre Guillermo, Francis Diwo, Luc Fournol, and Bernard Mabille. The portraits, sketches and imitations were refined and gave birth to very elaborate performances at the Olympia, Bobino, Théâtre Marigny, Thierry Fééries at the Palais des congrès de Paris, De de Gaulle à Mitterrand at the Théâtre Marigny, and Le Luron en liberté at the Théâtre du Gymnase Marie Bell. The last show attracted about 400,000 viewers. He then worked mainly with Bernard Mabille and created the character of Adolphe Benito Glandu, caretaker at 22 Rue de Bièvre, a "fairly extensive caricature of the average Frenchperson: an individual with no particular equities, influenced by calamities, and that defines Le Luron: Petainist under Pétain, Mendesist under Mendès France, and Socialist May 10 to 11!". He also pursued an intense activity on television and radio: Chat en poche by Georges Feydeau as part of the TV show Au théâtre ce soir and Numéro 1 by Maritie and Gilbert Carpentier. From 1978 to 1979, he hosted a weekly show, Les Parasites sur l'antenne, on France Inter including Pierre Desproges, Lawrence Riesner, Bernard Mabille and Evelyne Grandjean as columnists. In 1981, he recorded the theme song of the animated television seriesRody le petit Cid. Thierry Le Luron later imitated Gilbert Bécaud on the TV show Champs-Elysees on 10 November 1984, singing and blackmailing the public's ignorance, in a song titled "L'emmerdant, c'est la rose", with the rose being the symbol of the Socialist Party dedicating this song to President François Mitterrand. On 25 September 1985, he "married" Coluche "for better or for laughter" to great fanfare in Montmartre. A few weeks later his "son," played by Carlos was born. Le Luron said: "I wanted Coluche to be dressed by Pierre Cardin. But...for Mourousi's marriage, he has to make both dresses". This statement, and the false marriage itself, are often interpreted as a public act of vengeance, especially by Le Luron's friends, as most of the attention was focused on Coluche, although the press commended both of them for their outspokenness.
Death and legacy
Le Luron was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 34, and cancelled his scheduled appearances in December 1985. He died on 13 November 1986.
