Patrick Dewaere

Career

Dewaere attended the Cours Hattemer, a private school.

One of his first tv appearances was in 1961, when he was 14 years old. He appeared in a video for song Nuits d'Espagne by Dalida. Later, he 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.

Legacy

Family

For eleven years Dewaere was married to French actress Sotha. In early 1970s, Patrick Dewaere became companion of French actress Miou-Miou until they broke-up in 1976. They had one daughter. He committed suicide in 1982 by shooting himself with a rifle in Paris; he was 35 years old. He was survived by his wife and two daughters (one of whom was from a prior relationship).