Patrick Dewaere

Patrick Dewaere (26 January 1947 – 16 July 1982) was a French film actor. He was born in Saint-Brieuc, Côtes-d'Armor, son of French actress Mado Maurin. His five siblings, Jean-Pierre Maurin (1941-1996), Yves-Marie Maurin (b. 1944), Dominique Maurin (b. 1949), Jean-Francois Maurin (b. 1957) and Marie-Veronique Maurin (b. 1960), all became actors, with varying degrees of success.

Patrick was a promising and popular French actor in the late 1960s and 1970s. In 1968, he joined Café de la Gare, the troupe of performers which also included such future stars as Gérard Depardieu and Miou-Miou. After initially appearing under the pseudonym Patrick Maurin, he finally opted for Dewaere, which was his grandmother's maiden name. Onscreen from 1971 in various bit parts, Dewaere made the breakthrough with his first major role in Bertrand Blier's anarchic comedy Les Valseuses (1974) where he and Depardieu starred as two young delinquents. He teamed up again with Depardieu in Blier's Oscar-winning comedy Préparez vos mouchoirs (1978). Despite Dewaere's obvious talent for comedy, he was often successfully cast as a fragile, neurotic individual. Shortly after the release of Paradis Pour Tous (1982), a black comedy where his character committed suicide, the actor shot himself in his house.

The actor was the subject of the French documentary Patrick Dewaere, which was shown at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.