MICHAEL DRUCKER. At the start of the 2022 school year, Michel Drucker will host “Vivement dimanche” on France 3 from the next school year, a real change in the landscape of French television.
[Mis à jour le 24 mai 2022 à 15h20] Michel Drucker has new projects for the start of the 2022 school year. The soon-to-be 80-year-old host will leave France 2 to join France 3, Le Parisien tells us. The faithful of “Vivement dimanche” will however only have to change the channel to find their favorite meeting, since the show will always be programmed on the Three. However, this new version of the cult show is brought forward to 1:30 p.m.
Michel Drucker told Le Parisien that he found it “great” to change the channel. “France 3 is part of my DNA. I will be its new incarnation with Cyril Féraud. For me, it’s going on a channel that looks like me.” The presenter also announces a change for “Vivement dimanche”, since the show will leave more room for humor with the presence of Laura Felpin, Paul Mirabel or Maxime Gasteuil. “The show will be more anchored towards the province,” he added. Michel Drucker should also participate in the animation of a talk show during the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.
Born September 12, 1942 in Vire, Calvados, Michel Drucker is a monument of French television. From dunce to self-taught, he became an emblematic host of the ORTF, TF1 then France 2, with his cult programs “Champs Elysées” and “Vivement dimanche”. Still on France 2 to this day, the host gives the impression that his presence is eternal on our small screens.
Michel Drucker is the son of Abraham Drucker, a Jewish immigrant who arrived in France in 1925 and became a doctor, and Lola Schafler, a nurse. They were naturalized in 1937. During the Second World War, his father was arrested because of a denunciation and became head doctor in the Drancy camp. Meanwhile, her mother, pregnant with Michel Drucker and accompanied by her older brother, is checked at Rennes station by a Gestapo officer. She is saved by Pierre Le Lay (the father of Patrick Le Lay, chairman and CEO of the TF1 television channel from 1988 to 2008 and creator of TVBreizh), by making the soldier believe that she is his wife.
Michel Drucker first studied at the Emile Maupas high school in Vire then at the technical high school in Caen, where he obtained a higher diploma in commercial education. In 1962, he did his military service in Compiègne, in one of the services of the Terre-Air-Mer magazine. Thanks to this, he approaches television journalists coming from the Alfred-Lelluch center of the ORTF. Raised in a family where you have to be excellent in your studies, he is considered a dunce, his father telling him “But what are we going to do with you?”. At 17, he left the family home in order to succeed and became self-taught.
Michel Drucker began his career thanks to Pierre Sabbagh, who offered him an internship at Sports Dimanche in 1964. He learned his trade at the ORTF, thanks to men like Leon Zitrone and George of Caunes. From 1965 to 1968, he presented the sports section during the television news. In 1966, he presented a new variety show called “Tilt”, where he met the generation of Salut les amis, in particular Claude Francois and Johnny Hallyday who will become close friends. After being removed from the channel for having taken part in the demonstrations of May 1968, he returned as an official commentator of football events from 1969 to 1986. From 1975, he turned to entertainment programs such as Les Rendez-vous du Sunday and Stars on TF1 then “Champs-Elysées” on Antenne 2, in 1982. Thanks to these programs, which have become cults, he gained notoriety. In 1984, he created his own company “Production DMD”. He sold it in 2000 to the StudioExpand group (a subsidiary of the Canal+ group), then recovered its management in 2004.
Antenne 2 having a new president (Philippe Guilhaume), Michel Drucker joined TF1 in 1990 and presented Stars 90. He returned to France 2 in 1994, for the daily program “Studio Gabriel”. The channel then needs to find a replacement at Jacques Martin Sunday afternoon. Thus, on September 20, 1998, he presented and co-produced the show that was to become cult: Vivement dimanche, and at 7 pm Vivement dimanche dimanche. He also presents programs in the first part of the evening on France 2 and France 3, such as La Nuit des Molières or Les Victoires de la musique.
Michel Drucker is also a radio host, first at RTL with “RTL c’est vous” from 1974 to 1976, then “La Grande Parade” from 1976 to 1982 and from time to time “La Valise RTL”. He then became a host for Europe 1, with “Studio 1” from 1983 to 1987. In 2008, he returned to host the program “Europe 1 Découvertes” then in 2009, “Studio Europe 1” with Wendy Bouchard.
At 77, Michel Drucker is aware that his television career may be coming to an end. Thus, he decides to renew himself by going up on the boards, with One man shows. His first show, Alone with you in 2016-2017, retraces the 50 years of his career, describing behind the scenes, behind the scenes of his profession. Precious and intimate memories that he wishes to share with the public. In his second show, De vous à moi, in 2019-2020, Michel Drucker makes the comparison between the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, with regard to the profession of television presenter-host, but also of actor, singer, comedian and even politician. Michel Drucker tends here towards nostalgia, admitting that he misses these old times, and in particular his friends and colleagues.
Met thanks to his friend Claude François, Michel Drucker married actress Dany Saval, in Las Vegas, on July 28, 1973. Between 2004 and 2006, Michel Drucker had a relationship with the writer Calixthe Beyala. This one contributes to one of his books never published but is not paid. She therefore sued him, which she lost in 2009 but won on appeal in 2011. Michel Drucker must therefore pay him 40,000 euros.
From his marriage to actress Dany Saval, Michel Drucker will have no children. However, the actress is already the mother of a daughter, Stéphanie Jarre, born of her former relationship with the composer Maurice Jarre, also father of Jean-Michel Jarre. Michel Drucker raises him like his daughter. He and his wife also adopted a young Cambodian in 1979, whose name is Yleng.
Michel Drucker has two brothers: first of all John Drucker (1941-2003), television director and father of journalist Marie Drucker. Then Jacques Drucker (born in 1946), professor of medicine and father of the actress Lea Drucker. After the death of his older brother, Michel Drucker discovers that he has a half-brother named Patrick.
A magazine survey Capital in 2018 reveals the salary of Michel Drucker: his professional assets would amount to around 11 million euros. This figure is due thanks to the turnover of his production company, his salary as an animator and finally the management of his sets, which he rents to other producers and companies.
Apart from television and radio sets, Michel Drucker has distinguished himself in other activities. He has published numerous books, some in collaboration, such as his biography “But what are we going to do with you?”, written with Jean-François Kervéan, in 2007.
Michel Drucker has received several distinctions: in 1984, he was made a knight of the Order of Arts and Letters and a knight in 1994 then an officer of the Legion of Honor in 2004. In 2001, he was made a knight and then in 2010 an officer of the National Order of Quebec. Then in 2014, he was Commander of the Order of the Crown, in Belgium. He also received the Medal of the City of Paris in 1979.
Michel Drucker also has a discography: he was the narrator twice in “La fugue du Petit Poucet” in 1986 and “Le Grand Disque des Films Disney” in 1988. Then he lent his voice for humanitarian causes: “La Chanson des Restaurants” in 1986, “For you Armenia” in 1989 and “1 Gesture for Haiti my darling” in 2010.
Between 1972 and 2020, he often played his own role as an animator in films, such as “L’aventure c’est l’aventure” by Claude Lelouch“L’Antidote” by Vincent de Brus and in series such as “Dix pour cent”.
On December 5, 2017, Michel Drucker learned that his longtime friend, Johnny Hallyday, had died of cancer. The next day, he presents a special show in tribute to his friend and breaks down in tears at the end of it. Indeed, when the final credits start, Michel Drucker concludes with his words: “I kiss Laeticia, the little girls, David, Laura, all those who are close to Johnny and who mourn him this evening. You know, in my career, which is already long, I have seen many friends leave.” Overwhelmed by emotion, he stops for a few seconds and adds: “He was special”. He then finishes: “You could have lived a little longer, Johnny” “I know that we will see each other again one day or another. Hi my friend!”. A sequence of intense emotion, which moved all viewers.
Since his death, the host has proven the solid friendship he had with Johnny and happily recounts anecdotes during his interviews, such as the text message the singer had sent him a few days before his death: “I been young for so long that I didn’t see myself growing old”. All these anecdotes, and even the falling out, with the famous singer, he tells them in an entire chapter on Johnny Hallyday, in his book “It takes time to stay young”.
In July 2018, Michel Drucker criticized one of his colleagues for the first time. Indeed, the host attacked the journalist Laurent Delahousse, saying that: “Laurent Delahousse is not a good guy. He asked for my place for almost ten years. Each season, he threatened the management to leave if he did not have the 7 p.m. when I was a locomotive for his newspaper.”. Being criticized from all sides, however, he decided to invite him to dinner a few months later, he concluded: “Uncomfortable with this story, I discovered an anxious, very anxious and rather shy boy. Like me. We talked shop and purged the past.”, thus ending this benign estrangement.
Michel Drucker was treated at the end of August 2020 at the Georges-Pompidou hospital in Paris, for infectious endocarditis. This infected his heart and also affected the mitral valve, spleen and kidney. This bacteria having also spread to the artery of his right leg, he could have been amputated. Despite the unblocked artery, the valve still being infected, the operation was inevitable. He also narrowly avoided having his leg amputated. The surgeons also discovered the need to perform a triple bypass in September 2020. The operation lasted 8 hours, with 15 hours of anesthesia and then resuscitation and intensive care. “My heart was stopped for a few hours and connected to a machine, explained the host in an interview with Parisian on November 30, 2020. There, I realized I had come close to disaster”. Michel Drucker had to undergo a second surgery because of an early infection, following the previous operation. He then followed several months of rehabilitation in a Parisian clinic. At the end of April 2021, Michel Drucker will release a book which will look back on his seven months of convalescence