From 1936 to 1970, the year of Bourvil’s death, it was Jeanne who would share the life of the French actor and who would become the mother of his two children.
On the occasion of the broadcast, this Sunday April 17 on France 2 of the film La Grande vadrouille, Closer invites you to find out more about the life of the actor who died in 1970 and in particular to discover who was Jeanne Lefrique, the one who shared his life for more than thirty years. It was in 1936 that André Raimbourg, his real name, met the young woman when he was only 19 years old. One evening at a ball, the young man, a harmonica, accordion and cornet player in the Fontaine-le-Dun brass band (in what is now Seine-Maritime) fell under the spell of Jeanne, daughter of a foreman at the village sugar factory. Between them, it’s love at first sight.
But when André decides to go to Paris, in 1937, to try to follow in the footsteps of his idol, Fernandel, he leaves Jeanne in Normandy in order to spare her the galleys of the capital. It was only six years later, in the middle of the Second World War, that Jeanne marries André Raimbourg, who became Bourvil, a music-hall artist. In 1950, the couple gave birth to Dominique, who would later engage in politics. Three years later, in 1953, Philippe was born. Between André and Jeanne, it’s love like the first day. The couple lives between Paris and Montainville, commune of Yvelines where they have a country house and a certain Georges Brassens for neighbor.
Jeanne stays by Bourvil’s side during her illness
No downside except the rumor ofan extramarital affair between Bourvil and Pierrette Bruno, an actress with whom he shares the poster. Jeanne stays and it is she who will be by her side, in 1967, when Kahler’s disease, a bone cancer, will appear in the life of André Raimbourg. For three years, the actor suffers martyrdom but continues his career, shooting in particular for Marcel Camus in The Atlantic Wall when he is barely standing. Bourvil finally died on September 23, 1970 at the age of 53. Jeanne will join him, sixteen years later, in 1986, victim of a car accident while going to the cemetery of Montainville where her husband was buried…
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