Jean Poiret

French actor, director, and screenwriter

Jean Poiret, born Jean Poiré (17 August 1926 – 14 March 1992), was a French actor, director, and screenwriter. He is primarily known as the author of the original play La Cage aux Folles.

Poiret was born in Paris, and first rose to prominence in 1951 playing the role of Fred Transport, one of the heroes of Pierre Dac and Francis Blanche's radio series Malheur aux Barbus. In 1952, he met his future co star of La Cage Michel Serrault at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre. They starred in the sketch "Jerry Scott, Vedette Internationale". In 1961, Poiret, as a member of the French cinematic society Pathé, wrote and recorded "La Vache à Mille Francs", a parody of "La Valse à Mille Temps" by Jacques Brel. In 1973, he married actress Caroline Cellier, with whom he had one child.

In 1973, Poiret wrote and starred in the stage play La Cage aux Folles. Its film adaptation in 1978 brought Poiret immense success. Although Poiret was replaced by Italian actor Ugo Tognazzi in the role of Renato Baldi, Serrault reprised his stage role of Zaza Napoli and won a César Award for his work.

In 1992, Poiret directed Le Zèbre (The Zebra). his first and only film, an adaptation of Alexandre Jardin's novel. It starred Thierry Lhermitte and Caroline Cellier, and it was one of the top grossing films in France for the year and the highest grossing debut European film for the year (with a gross of $12 million). Poiret died of a heart attack in Suresnes on 14 March 1992, three months before the film's premiere. He is buried at the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.