On Saturday March 6, 1965, at 8:30 p.m., the first channel, still in black and white, broadcasts the debut of
Belphégor
, a mini-series in four episodes, by Claude Barma.
That evening, 95% of the 7 million French people who own a television set are in front of their small screen.
The success is such that, during the three following Saturdays, the cinemas will be almost empty.
In the role of Laurence Borel, who will prove to be the mysterious "ghost of the Louvre", Juliette Gréco obtains a popularity which greatly exceeds that of the singer.
On tour in Japan during the broadcast, she measures it, upon her return, at Orly airport, when the customs officer smiles at her:
"Hello Belphégor!"
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A few months earlier, she almost gave up on this soap opera because the shooting dates corresponded to a series of concerts in Bobino!
Thanks to rigorous management of his schedule, accumulation has become possible.
Every evening, she joined the stage, as soon as the applause of a always full room ended.
The one who was nicknamed, in 1946, "the muse of Saint-Germain-des-Prés" was then an international star.
Every year, she performs in a dozen countries, where she is considered an ambassador of song, a symbol of France, just like champagne and perfumes.
At Carnegie Hall, it regularly sells out.
In Tokyo, a street and a café are named after her, and among her illustrious fans there is Elizabeth, the Queen Mother of England as well as Maria Callas.
In a black dress, created by Pierre Balmain, whom she calls her armor, she interprets, in her own way, the
“sorrows of death”
.
She repeats each of her gestures for hours, with a precision worthy of the words written by authors that she leaves to no one to choose.
Serge Gainsbourg, Léo Ferré, Guy Béart, Bernard Dimey, Charles Trenet, Françoise Sagan, Abd Al Malik and a few others appear on a long list which also includes two strangers to whom, in the early 1950s, she gave their first chance: Charles Aznavour with
Je hais les Dimanches
and Jacques Brel with
J'arrive
.
And to think that she didn't want to sing!
She thought she was too shy!
It took the insistence of Jean-Paul Sartre, who introduced her to Raymond Queneau and Joseph Kosma, to decide her to record
Si tu s'imagines
.
Advice from Jean Cocteau, but above all from Boris Vian, his
“little brother at heart”
then helped him find his style.
In her nearly 75-year career, she has given a lot of love, and received a lot in return, and not just from the public.
His passionate stories with Miles Davis, Darryl Zanuck, and Michel Piccoli made the heyday of a press that was not yet called “people”.
His final marriage, in 1988, with Gérard Jouanest, the pianist of Brel, was more discreet.
Until his death, in 2018. A man who was his ray of sunshine, and not only because they had chosen to live under Ramatuelle's ...
Find here the Belphégor series produced in 1965 by Claude Barma with Juliette Greco. Free subscription on Madelen two months, then 2.99 euros per month.
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