Claude Pierre Edmond Giraud (in French pronounced as /klod pjɛʁ ɛdmɔ̃ ʒiʁo/; 5 February 1936 in Chamalières – 3 November 2020 in Saint-Priest-des-Champs) was a French actor.
Claude Giraud studied with Tania Balachova at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier; Berthe Bovy and Jean Meyer at the École de la rue Blanche (École nationale supérieure des arts et techniques du théâtre, ENSATT). In November 1957 he was accepted as a student[1] at CNSAD Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique, where he studied with Jean Debucourt and Fernand Ledoux. Upon his graduation he was the first male student to win all three categories during the Concourse (Classical Comedy, Modern Comedy, Tragedy).[2] [3] In 1962 he was the first recipient of the newly created Prix Gérard Philipe. He was engaged at the Comédie Française in 1962 as a pensionnaire.[4] Besides his debut role as Valère in Molière's The Miser, he played Arsace in Corneille's Bérénice, and the narrator in the stage adaptation of André Gide's short story Le retour de l'enfant prodigue (The Return of the Prodigal Son). Disappointed that he was only cast in small roles, he left the Comédie Française after a few months to start his film career. He played the leading role as Capitaine Langlois in François Leterrier's movie adaptation of Jean Giono's novel A King Without Distraction in 1962.[5] He was Oedipus in the film adaptation of Jean Cocteau's The Infernal Machine. He joined the Compagnie Marie Bell to play a US tour in New York City, Boston, Washington D.C., and Princeton in October–November 1963.[6] For his presentation of Hippolite in Phèdre and Titus in Bérénice at The Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway,[7] he was awarded the Theater World Award.[8] [9] He played the role of the soldier Georges in Roger Vadim's Circle of Love,[10] a film adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's scandalous play La Ronde (play). Between 1964 and 1966, Claude Giraud played the part of Philippe de Plessis-Bellières beside Michèle Mercier in three Angélique films: Angélique, Marquise des Anges, Marvelous Angelique, and Angelique and the King.He returned to the Comédie Française in 1972 and became the 460th sociétaire in 1976.[11] He left again in 1982 to join Jean-Laurent Cochet's newly created Théâtre Hébertot.
Giraud gained fame in TV series as hero Morgan/Jacques de Saint-Hermine in the adventure series Les Compagnons de Jéhu by Michel Drach[12] [13] adapted from the eponymous novel by Alexandre Dumas. Bernard Toublanc-Michel engaged him in 1967 for the role of d'Aulnay in Adolphe ou l'âge tendre. The TV series Les rois maudits, where he played the role of Sir Roger Mortimer, was another huge success. In 1973, he played the fictional Arab revolutionary leader Mohamed Larbi Slimane, who poses as Rabbi Zeiligman in The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob with Louis de Funès. In the TV movie Mamie Rose (1976) he played Claude Jade's husband Régis, whose marriage is saved by an au-pair granny played by Gisèle Casadesus.
Other TV series include Mathias Sandorf (1979), in which he played corrupt banker Silas Toronthal, based on Jules Verne's eponymous novel.
Giraud married Catherine Marquand (1943-2012),[14] a fellow acting student at the Conservatoire, in 1963.[15] [16] They had a son, Louis (*1963),[17] and a daughter, Marianne (*1966), who is also an actress and married to French actor and director Jean Martinez.
Since 1987, he lived in Vernadel near Saint-Priest-des-Champs in Auvergne, where he owned a Connemara stud farm, Haras du Boissis.[18]
Claude Giraud died age 84 on 3 November 2020 in Saint-Priest-des-Champs and was buried there on 7 November 2020.[19]
| Year | Title | Author | Director | Role | Name of Theater | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Arsace | 17 performances | |||||||
| 1964 | Franco Zeffirelli | Nick[20] [21] [22] | Théâtre de la Renaissance | ||||||
| 1962–64 | Raymond Gérôme | Hippolyte[23] | Théâtre du Gymnase Marie Bell[24] | Claude Giraud was awarded the Theatre World Award for his role on Broadway Oct.-Nov. 1963[25] | |||||
| 1967 | |||||||||
| 1969 | Jean Meyer | Théâtre des Célestins, Lyon | |||||||
| 1969 | Le Gardien (Pinter) (The Caretaker) | Mick | Théâtre de Paris, previously called Théâtre Moderne | ||||||
| 1971 | Le Gardien (Pinter) (The Caretaker) | Mick | Théâtre des Célestins, Lyon | Tournées Herbert-Karsenty[26] | |||||
| 1972 | Tu étais si gentil quand tu étais petit | Égisthe[27] [28] | |||||||
| 1972 | |||||||||
| 1972 | Édouard IV | Comédie-Française | |||||||
| 1973 | Comédie-Française | ||||||||
| 1973 | Octave | Comédie-Française | |||||||
| 1974 | Jean-Paul Roussillon | Comédie-Française (Odéon) | |||||||
| 1974 | Festival de Lyon | ||||||||
| 1975 | Jean-Pierre Miquel | Curiace | Comédie-Française | ||||||
| 1976 | La Nuit des rois (Twelfth Night) | Antonio | Comédie-Française (Odéon) | ||||||
| 1976 | Christian | Comédie-Française (Odéon) | |||||||
| 1976 | Festival de Sarlat | ||||||||
| 1976 | Scoroncocolo | ||||||||
| 1977 | Penthée | Comédie-Française (Odéon) | |||||||
| 1977 | Gargaret | ||||||||
| 1978–1979 | Leonardo | Comédie-Française (Odéon) | |||||||
| 1979 | Béralde | ||||||||
| 1980 | Simul et singulis – 1ère période 1680–1780 | ||||||||
| 1980 | Félix | ||||||||
| 1981 | Créon | Festival d'Avignon | |||||||
| 1983 | |||||||||
| 1983 | |||||||||
| 1983 | |||||||||
| 1987 | Performed on cruise liner Mermoz (later renamed MV Serenade) | ||||||||
| 1990 | |||||||||
| 1990 | |||||||||
| 1992 | |||||||||
| 1997 | |||||||||
| 1998 | |||||||||
| 2000 | |||||||||
| 2005 |
| Year | Title | English Title | Director | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | Un roi sans divertissement | A King Without Distraction | Le capitaine Langlois[29] [30] | Screenplay by Jean Giono, based on his eponymous novel | ||
| 1963 | La Machine infernale | Œdipe[31] | Television film | |||
| 1964 | Cinna (Corneille) | Cinna[32] | Pierre Corneille | |||
| 1964 | Angélique, Marquise des Anges | Angélique, Marquise des Anges | Philippe de Plessis-Bellière[33] | Based on the eponymous novel by Anne Golon and Serge Golon | ||
| 1964 | La Ronde | Roger Vadim | Georges[34] | Based on La Ronde (play) by Arthur Schnitzler | ||
| 1965 | Merveilleuse Angélique | Merveilleuse Angélique | Philippe de Plessis-Bellière[35] | |||
| 1966 | Angélique et le Roy | Angelique and the King | Philippe de Plessis-Bellière[36] | |||
| 1968 | d'Aulnay[37] | Based on the 1816 French novel Adolphe by Benjamin Constant | ||||
| 1968 | Hippolyte[38] | Based on the tragedy by Jean Racine | ||||
| 1973 | Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob | The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob | Mohamed Larbi Slimane / Rabbi Zeiligman[39] | Golden Globe nominee for Best Foreign Film (France)[40] | ||
| 1974 | La guerre du pétrole n'aura pas lieu | La guerre du pétrole n'aura pas lieu | Tourner | Entered into the 9th Moscow International Film Festival.[41] | ||
| 1989 | Le comte Almaviva[42] | |||||
| 1989 | Laporte[43] | |||||
| 1994 | L'Ange noir | Romain Bousquet[44] |
1965, La Compagnie Marie Bell, Phèdre (Racine)[70]
