17 Interesting Facts About Louis de Funès

The famous French actor Louis de Funès gained immense popularity through a series of films that featured his comedic talent. His rise to fame came later in life, by which time he had become known for playing grumpy, stingy characters with bad tempers. This type of role became his signature and made him incredibly popular.

Facts About Louis de Funès:

1. In addition to acting, he was skilled in music. Few people know that the famous comedian was an excellent pianist. In his youth, he even earned a living by playing the piano for the public.
2. Louis de Funès slept very soundly, undisturbed by external noises. As a result, he always set three alarm clocks for the same time.
3. He wasn’t always wealthy and famous. Throughout his life, Louis de Funès worked in various professions, including as a sailor and a shoemaker.
4. The actor was fluent in both English and Spanish.
5. Louis de Funès became especially popular in the early 1960s. He received numerous offers from directors, and being a workaholic, he often worked on several films simultaneously.
6. He had a habit of walking around and noting everything he observed about people’s behavior in a notebook. Later, he would study his notes and sometimes incorporate what he saw into the characters he played.
7. Although Louis de Funès starred in dozens of excellent films, he became particularly famous in the Soviet Union after the release of the movies about Fantômas and the French gendarmes.
8. The Soviet dubbing of his films was outstanding. In all the movies, Louis de Funès’ character was voiced by the same Soviet actor, V. Kenigson.
9. The French comedian’s wife was the granddaughter of the world-famous writer Guy de Maupassant. She outlived her husband and lived to be 101 years old.
10. Louis de Funès wanted his sons to become actors, but they did not follow in his footsteps. One became a pilot, and the other a doctor.
11. He was so popular in France that he was awarded the country’s highest honor, the Legion of Honor.
12. Despite being one of the most famous French actors in history, Louis de Funès was not entirely French by origin. Both his father and mother were of mixed Spanish and Portuguese descent. However, their son was born in France, where they had moved in their youth.
13. A variety of rose was named after Louis de Funès because he loved these flowers and spent much of his free time tending to them in his garden.
14. In childhood, his parents called him “Fufu.” They were also well-known actors, but their fame paled in comparison to that of Louis de Funès.
15. His contemporaries claimed that the actor could be unbearable at times. On screen, he often portrayed a rude and perpetually dissatisfied grouch, and many people said that he was like that in real life as well.
16. As he aged, Louis de Funès developed a genuine paranoia. He was convinced that he was being watched and never parted with a gun. He even slept with it under his pillow.
17. As a joke, he once hung a sign on his apartment door that read, “Fun for Sale from 9 AM to 6 PM.” When a crowd of people began knocking on his door, Louis de Funès was taken aback—he hadn’t expected such a reaction to his innocent prank.