Pierre Tchernia

Pierre Tcherniakowski (29 January 1928 – 8 October 2016), better known as Pierre Tchernia, was a French cinema and television producer, screenwriter, presenter, animator and actor. In France he was known as "Magic" Tchernia and Monsieur Cinema.[1]

Pierre Tchernia
Tchernia at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival
Born
Pierre Tcherniakowski

(1928-01-29)29 January 1928
Died8 October 2016(2016-10-08) (aged 88)
Paris, France
NationalityFrench
OccupationScreenwriter
Actor
Producer

Early life

Born in Paris as Pierre Tcherniakowski, he was the youngest of four children. His father, a Ukrainian immigrant, was an engineer and his mother a seamstress.[2] He grew up in Courbevoie. In 1940, at age 12, he saw John Ford's Western Stagecoach and was inspired to work in cinema. After graduation, he enrolled in a film and photography technical school, and then joined the Institute for Advanced Cinematographic Studies.[3]

Career

He was part of the creation of the first televised news in France in 1949 and was an early French news presenter. In 1955 he became a producer of animation (with a heavy influence from the early animation of Walt Disney). For many years he hosted a television game show of movie trivia, Monsieur Cinéma (in French). He was also host or presenter for various French talk, variety, quiz and music shows over the years. Tchernia was the regular French commentator in the Eurovision Song Contest on 14 occasions from 1958 until 1974.

On 14 July 2011, he became Commandeur of the Legion of Honor.[4]

Asterix

A good friend of René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, the creators of Asterix, he narrated many of the Asterix films in the original French, and wrote the screenplay for four of them. He was also caricatured numerous times in the series:

His caricature can also be found in the Lucky Luke animated film La Ballade des Dalton (1978), where he is depicted on a picture on the wall, when Luke visits the character Thaddeus Collins.

Filmography (selected)

References

  1. "L'homme de télévision Pierre Tchernia est décédé". lefigaro.fr. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  2. "Pierre Tchernia, alias "Monsieur Cinéma", l'ambassadeur du 7e art". La Croix (in French). AFP. 8 October 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  3. Séry, Macha (8 October 2016). "Pierre Tchernia est mort". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  4. 'La promotion du 14 juillet de la Légion d'honneur', in Le Figaro, 14/07/2011
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