Gérard Lauzier
Encyclopedia
Gérard Lauzier was a French comics author and movie director, best known as one of the leading authors in the more adult-oriented French comics
Franco-Belgian comics
Franco-Belgian comics are comics that are created in Belgium and France. These countries have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are known as BDs, an abbreviation of bande dessinée in French and stripverhalen in Dutch...

 scene of the 1970s and 1980s.

Biography

Gérard Lauzier was born in Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

 on 30 November 1932. He studied philosophy and afterwards architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...

in Paris. He worked in a press agency before travelling to Brazil, where he collaborated on the new capital Brasilia
Brasília
Brasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...

. In 1959, he got conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

 for the Algerian War.

In Brazil, he contributed editorial cartoons to Jornal do Bahia until he left the country in the wake of the 1964 military coup. Back in France, he worked for a number of magazines, most notably the soft erotic Lui
Lui
Lui is a French adult entertainment magazine created in November 1963 by Daniel Filipacchi, a fashion photographer turned publisher, Jacques Lanzmann, a jack of all trades turned novelist, and Frank Ténot, a press agent, pataphysician and jazz critic..The objective was to bring some charm "à la...

where he made the series Les sextraordinaires aventures de Zizi et Peter Panpan. His major comics work appeared in the leading French adult comics magazine, Pilote
Pilote
thumb|Cover of the first Pilote teaser issue, #0.Pilote was a French comics periodical published from 1959 to 1989. Showcasing most of the major French or Belgian comics talents of its day the magazine introduced major series such as Astérix le Gaulois, Blueberry, Achille Talon, and Valérian et...

, where he worked between 1974 and 1985. His main series of this period are Lili Fatale
Lili Fatale
Lili Fatale is a Quebec-based band whose members are lead vocalist Nathalie Courchesne, Richard Valmont Binette and Uranian Valcéanu. Martin Beaulieu is a former member. They perform in the pop music domain with electronic stylings.-Discography:...

and Tranches de Vie. His most iconic character is Michel Choupon, an oversexed and philosophical 18 year old, who starred in the comic Souvenirs d'un Jeune Homme and in the movie Petit con.

In later years, he became a film director, sometimes with movies based on his comics or on new stories. His most famous film is the 1991 Mon père ce héros with Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...

, remade in English as My Father the Hero
My Father the Hero (1994 film)
My Father the Hero is a 1994 English language remake of the 1991 French film Mon père, ce héros. The remake was directed by Steve Miner and released by Touchstone Pictures.- Plot :...

. Other titles include Le fils du Français with Fanny Ardant
Fanny Ardant
Fanny Marguerite Judith Ardant is a French actress. She has appeared in more than fifty motion pictures since 1976. Ardant won the César Award for Best Actress in 1997 for her performance in Pédale douce.-Early life:...

, and Je vais craquer with Christian Clavier. He also contributed dialogues to other movies, including the 1999 Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar
Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar
Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar is a 1999 feature film directed by Claude Zidi, the first of what went on to become a series of live-action films based on Goscinny and Uderzo's Astérix comics...

.

He died on 6 December 2008 in Paris, aged 76.

Works

  • 1973 : Un certain malaise, Dargaud
  • 1974 : Lili Fatale, Dargaud
  • 1975 : Tranches de vie, 5 tomes publiés en 1975, 76, 77, 78 et 86, Dargaud
  • 1977 : Les aventures d'Al Crane (dessiné par Alexis), Dargaud
  • 1977 : Chroniques de l'île grande, Dargaud
  • 1978 : Le retour d'Al Crane (dessiné par Alexis), Dargaud
  • 1978 : La course du rat, Dargaud
  • 1979 : Les Sextraordinaires Aventures de Zizi et Peter Panpan, Glénat
  • 1980 : La tête dans le sac, Dargaud
  • 1980 : Les sexties, Glénat
  • 1981 : Les Cadres, Dargaud
  • 1983 : Souvenirs d'un jeune homme, Dargaud
  • 1992 : Portrait de l'artiste, Dargaud


In 1981, publisher Dargaud
Dargaud
Les Éditions Dargaud is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics series, headquartered in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. It was founded in 1943 by Georges Dargaud.Initially, Dargaud published novels for women...

 released a two volume collection Lauzier (Intégrale), containing Tranches de vie I, II, III, IV in the first volume, and La course du rat - La tête dans les sac - Lili fatale - L'île grande in the second one.

Awards

  • 1967: Prix Jean Bellus
  • 1978: Angoulême International Comics Festival
    Angoulême International Comics Festival
    The Angoulême International Comics Festival is the largest comics festival in Europe. It has occurred every year since 1974 in Angoulême, France, in the month of January.The four-day festival is notable for awarding several prestigious prizes in cartooning...

     Award for Best French Author
    Angoulême International Comics Festival Other awards
    A number of awards was only presented at the Angoulême International Comics Festival for a short time.-Award for best French artist:* 1974: Alexis* 1975: Jacques Tardi* 1976: André Cheret* 1977: Moebius* 1978: Paul Gillon-Award for best foreign artist:...

  • 1981: Adamson Award
    Adamson Awards
    Adamson Awards is a Swedish award awarded to notable cartoonists, named after the famous Swedish comic strip "Adamson" .They have been presented by the Swedish Academy of Comic Art at the annual Gothenburg Book Fair since 1965...

  • 1993: Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême
    Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême
    Every year, the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême is awarded during the Angoulême International Comics Festival to an author for his body of work and/or for his achievement in the evolution of comics....


Further reading


External links

  • IMDb entry for Lauzier
  • Biography at Lambiek
    Lambiek
    Lambiek is a comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded in 1968 by Kees Kousemaker .It has held exhibitions of art by comic creators, including Robert Crumb, Daniel Clowes, Erik Kriek, André Franquin, Tanino Liberatore and Chris Ware...

    Comiclopedia
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