Alexis Gruss, the clown and squire, who founded the Old-fashioned Circus in 1974 with Silvia Monfort, had revolutionized this discipline by returning the predominance to horses. He died on Saturday April 6 of a heart attack at the age of 79 when the family marquee had just ended its season.
“I am the product of an Alsatian stonemason and an Italian horsewoman. Sauerkraut and order on one side, spaghetti and fantasy on the other,” he said with humor in Le Figaro.