Actor Pierre Vernier has died at the age of 93. He had played alongside Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Rochefort and Alain Delon.
It’s a new drama in the world of French cinema. Actor Pierre Vernier died at the age of 93 on Wednesday October 9, we learned on Saturday October 12 from his relatives who spoke to AFP. The actor was part of the “Bande du Conservatoire” in the 1950s. This collective was essentially formed by students from the Conservatoire national supérieur d’art Dramatique in Paris, class of 1954, including Françoise Fabian, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Rochefort , Claude Riche, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Bruno Cremer and Annie Girardot were among them. “An intimate bond was built [avec Jean-Paul Belmondo]. I was hooked right away with this band. Yet we were very different from each other!”, he confided in La Bande à Bébel, by Philippe Durant, (Editions L’Archipel, 2019).
Although his name is not as well known to the general public as that of some of his comrades, Pierre Vernier played in around sixty films, several of which hit the headlines, such as “The Professional” alongside Jean-Paul Belmondo in 1981. , “Itinerary of a spoiled child, in 1988, or Monsieur Klein, in 1976 with Alain Delon.
Who was Pierre Vernier?
Pierre Vernier was born on May 25, 1931 in Saint-Jean d’Angely (Charente) under the name Pierre Louis Rayer. After moving to Paris, joining the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art and forming the “Concervatoir band”, Pierre Vernier played with the greatest actors, but also the greatest directors, such as Henri Verneuil or Joseph Losey. The actor also played the role of General de Gaulle on television in 2008 and received several awards for this. He also played in the soap opera “Rocambole”, which made him known in the mid-1960s. The soap opera, in which he played the leading role, tells the story of a former convict who became a vigilante. This is how Pierre Vernier had to learn judo, karate and even horse riding. This gave rise to a passion for horses in him, which he shared with Jean Rochefort. In addition to cinema and television, he has also performed in theaters, notably under the direction of Raymond Rouleau and Georges Wilson.
As those close to him point out to AFP, Pierre Vernier was involved in the associative sector until the end of his life, after being named a knight of the National Order of Merit and an officer of the Order of Arts and Sciences. Letters.