After more than fifty years of career in cinema and television, Jean Benguigui can claim to have explored all genres. An actor as talented as he is flexible, with more than a hundred roles to his credit, he happily passes from a dramatic register to comedy, like a real chameleon … A few years ago, he decided to retrace his incredible journey in a book , A scent of bitter orange (ed. Fayard). From his childhood in Oran, Algeria, to his beginnings in Paris, the actor, who then inscribed his name in the credits of outstanding films such as Cold Buffet by Bertrand Blier or Le Grand Pardon by Alexandre Arcady, revealed himself there with a lot of tenderness.
He also told of the strong moments of his existence, in particular that cursed day in 1986 when he had believed to see his last hour arrived. The drama had occurred on the set of Fugitives by Francis Veber where this great accustomed to supporting roles gave the reply to a monument of the cinema, Gérard Depardieu. “During one scene, Gérard Depardieu rushes with his truck into my bar and sprays the counter behind which I am sheltering”, he recalled in his memoirs. But the security cable holding the vehicle will give way and the actor, hit head-on, will lose consciousness… “I was transferred, unconscious, to the Corbeil hospital for a scanner: I had nothing, nothing… A miracle. “
Then the years passed and the miraculous continued on his way, preventing himself from looking back. But today, at 76, he still finds himself facing death, in a terrible way. Guest of Jordan De Luxe on Non stop People, on December 8, Jean Benguigui gave maddening news of his condition. “I’m going to be 77 in April, it pisses me off. I am not in good health, I have a lot of comorbidities, like we have at my age. The heart, the kidneys, nothing works anymore… ”, he revealed with emotion. He knows he is now on the front line facing the Covid-19. “I wouldn’t want to catch the crap, because if I catch it, I die. There you go, so I’m careful. I’m waiting for the vaccine, what, ”he said.
Aware of living with a sword of Damocles above his head, he imagines the imprint he will leave after his disappearance! “I would like people to remember that I was nice, that I was nice. And that I am other than what I show. The public keeps this image: “He’s funny, he has no hair, he made Asterix!” “
Let’s hope that Jean Benguigui quickly regains morale to feast us on his witticisms for a long time to come alongside Laurent Ruquier who is often hilarious in Les Grosses Têtes …
Valérie EDMOND
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