Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: Henriette Ragon , Chanteuse Patachou

Gender: Female

Place of birth: Paris, France

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 8

TV Involvements: 11


Most Famous Work

Biography

Henriette Ragon (10 June 1918 – 30 April 2015), better known as Patachou, was a French singer and actress. She was an Officier of the Légion d'honneur. Born in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, Henriette Ragon began her working life as a typist, then a factory worker, a shoeseller and an antique dealer. In 1948, with her husband Jean Billon she took over a cabaret-restaurant in Montmartre, called Patachou. (Their son Pierre Billon had some success as a singer in the 1970s and wrote J'ai oublié de vivre for Johnny Hallyday.) She began to sing in the bistro, and journalists began to call her Patachou after the name of her cabaret (pâte-à-choux means cream puff dough). Georges Brassens sang there, and together they sang the duet "Maman, papa". She was the first to interpret other songs he composed such as "Le bricoleur", "La chasse aux papillons", etc. The evening she sang them for the first time, she suggested her audience stay to the end of the show and meet the writer of these songs, and Brassens went up on to the Patachou stage for the first time and sang Le Gorille and P..de toi. Sometimes she would collect half-ties (she would snip the neckties of customers reluctant to join in the singing and immediately staple them to the ceiling, a habit which has created a very original decor of the place - hundreds of neckties hanging above) – Thomas Dewey and Errol Flynn were among her victims. Her first records were released in 1952. She appeared at the Bobino, a Montparnasse music-hall, toured in France and then further afield. From 1953 onwards, she could be seen on-stage at the Palladium, the Waldorf Astoria, and Carnegie Hall, and throughout the United States. From the beginning of the 1970s she toured Japan and Sweden where 'L'eternal Parigot', with her cheeky Parisian register, was popular. Patachou was made Officier of the Légion d'honneur on 1 January 2009. Patachou died on 30 April 2015 at the age of 96. Source: Article "Patachou" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Most Famous Work

Le Grand Échiquier
Average
8

Le Grand Échiquier

(1972) Self
Midi trente
Average
6

Midi trente

(1972) Self
Numéro un
Average
6

Numéro un

(1975) Self
Les Cordier, juge et flic
Average
5

Les Cordier, juge et flic

(1994) Mrs. Lemoine
L'Académie des 9
Average
0

L'Académie des 9

(1982) Self
La Chance aux chansons
Average
0
À bout portant
Average
8

À bout portant

(1968) Self
Système 2
Average
0

Système 2

(1975) Self

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
2001 Margherite
Marguerite
Geneviève
2000 Mathilde Firmin
1999 Marguerite
1996 Emilie Sagglia
Madeleine
1995 N/A
1994 Mrs. Lemoine
1993 Mme. Meynard
1990 Alice
Marthe
Madame Ambrogiano
1988 N/A
1987 N/A
Meyrals
1986 Mme Coppercage
1984 Self
1982 Self
1975 Self
Self
1972 Self
Self
1968 Self
1963 Self
1962 Self
1959 Self
1955 Yvette Guilbert
Madame Sans-Gêne
1953 N/A
1948 Self
Self (archive footage)
Self - Singer
Year Character Movie/Tv

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