Actress Laurence Badie, a television star in the 1980s, known for her unique voice and who also had a long career in theatre and film, died on Thursday at the age of 96, her agent told AFP. She "died this (Thursday) morning at the age of 96 in Brittany," Goavec said.
Dubbing cartoons, game shows, classical repertoire, boulevard theatre and cinema, actress Laurence Badie had the gift of making people laugh, with a high-pitched and singular tone of voice. Without necessarily knowing her face, generations remember the high-pitched voice she lent to the character of Vera in Scooby-Doo.
Older people remember this petite and cheeky blonde, a laughing little face with a snub nose, who was part of the heyday of the Académie des neuf, the successful lunchtime television show in the 1980s. In her long career, she has also appeared in more than a hundred films, series and television movies. Often secondary roles, but sometimes with great filmmakers, from Sacha Guitry to François Truffaut, Vincente Minelli, Alain Resnais and Vittorio De Sica.
Her full name was Laurence Dolores Badie-Lopes and she was born on June 15, 1928 in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris. She studied for a year at HEC but preferred theatre. And took lessons with the actor Julien Bertheau.
During an audition, she gets her brushes tangled up and lets out an "Oh!" You have to take the one who said '', says the director, a certain Georges Wilson, who brings her into Jean Vilar's TNP (Théâtre National Populaire), where she stays for nearly ten years.
He already had a predilection for comic roles. "The best years of my life! This is where I learned everything, in contact with the great actors: Gérard Philipe, Philippe Noiret, Maria Casarès." She also worked for the cinema, where she was spotted in René Clément's Jeux Interdits (1952). She was soon given the role of a maid. "As people lack imagination, as soon as I had to play a little maid, I was hired. I've played a lot of them."
Boulevard theatre would be his world for decades. She played in plays by Guitry but, above all, the public flocked for a year and a half to see her alongside Louis de Funès in "Oscar", directed by Pierre Mondy.
In terms of dubbing, in addition to Vera in "Scooby-Doo", she is the French voice of many other cartoon characters such as Casper the friendly ghost or the dog Rocky.