Exactly 70 years ago, a very young Jean-Philippe Smet, whom the whole of France will soon know under the name of Johnny Hallyday, played a small role in the famous film noir “Les Diaboliques” by Henri-Georges Clouzot.
57 years of musical career, more than 50 studio albums, 40 gold records, 10 Victoires de la Musique…
Died in December 2017 at the age of 74, Johnny Hallyday was and will undoubtedly remain one of the greatest artists in the history of French song.
Known for titles as legendary as Requiem for a fool, Desire, Light the fire, My mouth And Something from Tennesseehe had also played several roles in the cinema, in films like The Specialist by Sergio Corbucci, Adventure is Adventure by Claude Lelouch, The Man on the Train by Patrice Leconte and Vengeance by Johnnie To.
A first role at 12
But before achieving consecration and glory – on stage or on the big screen – Johnny Hallyday also had opening acts and small roles. At the age of 12, when he dreamed of breaking into the world of music, the man we still knew under the name of Jean-Philippe Smet actually took his very first steps in the cinema in the legendary film noir by Henri-Georges Clouzot, Les Diaboliques.
This chilling thriller in which the wife of a boarding school director and his mistress teamed up to murder him, carried by Véra Clouzot, Simone Signoret and Paul Meurisse, took place largely in the establishment run by the protagonists. Among the students of this institution, as we can see in several sequences of the feature film, provided you know where to look for him, there was a very young Johnny Hallyday hiding.
Vera Films
“It is a good memory.”
We can notably see her just behind Simone Signoret, at 1 hour and 38 minutes, in the class photo scene.
“There was a casting call, my aunt took me there, I was 12 years old, and I was chosen. It’s a good memory… It was my first experience with the seventh art!”he said on this subject in 2009, in a special issue of Les Inrockuptibles.
Among the students of Les Diaboliques, alongside the future Johnny Hallyday, was also Georges Poujouly (already known for having played the little boy in Jeux Interdits).
Two years after this first filming, the young budding artist will begin to do his first musical scenes, thus beginning the phenomenal career that will be his in the world of music and rock’n’roll.
(Re)discover the trailer for “Jean-Philippe”, in which Johnny Hallyday plays himself…