| André Maranne | |
| Birth Name: | André Gaston Maillol |
| Birth Date: | 14 May 1926 |
| Birth Place: | Toulouse, France |
| Death Place: | Brighton, England |
| Occupation: | Actor |
| Years Active: | 1956–1991 |
André Maranne (14 May 1926 – 12 April 2021) was a French-born British actor best known for playing roles in English-language films beginning in the mid-1950s.[1]
Born André Gaston Maillol in Toulouse, France, Maranne's best known role was probably Sergeant François Chevalier in six Pink Panther films alongside Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom.[2] Before the Pink Panther, he appeared as a French officer in The War Lover (1962) and had a cameo role in the James Bond movie Thunderball (1965).[3]
He appeared in such diverse television programmes as Merton Park Studios' Scotland Yard (as a gendarme in 1956 episode "Wall of Death" and credited as André Maillol & the 1957 episode "Night Crossing" as Detective Nouvel credited as Andre Maranne), Jason King ("Wanna buy a television series?", 1971), Fawlty Towers (as André in the 1975 "Gourmet Night" episode), Lord Peter Wimsey ("Clouds of Witness", 1972), Yes Minister (as European Agricultural Commissioner Maurice, proponent of the "euro-sausage", in "Party Games", 1984, the episode in which Jim Hacker becomes UK Prime Minister), All Creatures Great and Small and Doctor Who (The Moonbase, 1967).[4]
Maranne was also one of the four co-presenters of the French teaching programme, Bonjour Françoise on the BBC in the 1960s; he acted in all eight episodes of La Chasse au Trésor (1967) as well as all 24 episodes of Ensemble-French for Beginners in the 1970s, also for the BBC.[5] [6] Maranne provided English audio translation of French-speaking interviewees in the 1988 ITV documentary The Men Who Killed Kennedy.
Maranne died 12 April 2021 in Brighton, England at the age of 94. He was survived by his wife, Moira.[7] [8]