Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: Simon Berryer , Simon Jacques Eugène Berryer

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Cauterets, Hautes-Pyrénées, France

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 2

TV Involvements: 6


Most Famous Work

Biography

Sim (born Simon Jacques Eugène Berryer; 21 July 1926 – 6 September 2009) was a French humourist, writer and comedian. He was part of the team on Les Grosses Têtes, a radio and TV programme. He also played the part of Geriatrix in the films Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar and Astérix at the Olympic Games. Simon Jacques Eugène was born on 21 July 1926 to engineer Henri Berryer and his wife Marie-Thérèse (née Bonnemazou). At the time of his birth, Henri was an electrician for the director Abel Gance and grip on the film Napoléon. The family lived in a small flat in the Rue du Fer-à-Moulin, a cinema district in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, where Simon spent the most part of his earliest years at flats 26, then 28. Very early on, his Russian uncle working at Synchro-Standard took Berryer to see the first talking pictures, which he would remember all his life. In 1936, the family moved to Nantes when Berryer senior found work as a technician at Le Majestic cinema (later L'Olympic, then La Fabrique). At the age of eleven, Barryer founded a comedy group called "Sim-Art".(age fourteen, according to other sources). In 1939, with his friend Jojo, Sim got his first award in a funny face competition organised on 15 August at Saint-Julien-de-Concelles. Age fourteen, they played truant and performed sketches in a cellar, with fake letters to their school justifying their absence. Simon later studied at De Launey technical college in Nantes. In 1941 his parents took over a cinema, L'Éden, in the small town of Ancenis (between Nantes and Angers). The family moved from Nantes to Ancenis en 1942 and reopened the cinema. Sim continued his studies at the Joubert d'Ancenis lycée and worked as projectionist in the family business. In 1946, the Berryer family stopped working at the Ancenis to start a film distribution company at Rennes, without success. The Berryer parents returned to Ancenis but Sim – now married – stayed in Rennes as a projectionist at Le Royal. This venue also staged musical performances, so Sim saw performances from Edith Piaf, Yves Montand, Henri Salvador, Maurice Chevalier, among others. He practiced his comedy, alone, after the performances. He won a contract as a humorous singer in a ballroom. He was spotted by Étienne Perrin, with whom he performed a comic clown act Etty et Balta. At the end of 1953, he toured as a comic song act in the Paris cabaret clubs, often in drag, as at Madame Arthur in Montmartre. He also worked at the Crazy Horse Saloon as a dresser. This stage of his career would be resurrected in Elle boit pas, elle fume pas, elle drague pas, mais... elle cause ! by Michel Audiard, where he plays a schoolteacher who has a spare-time drag act. In the 1960s, he was part of Jean Nohain's team producing animated children's television, and performed the Baronne de la Tronche-en-Biais in a Guy Lux production. In the 1970s he was part of many televised sketch shows. He also performed comic sketches and songs with humourist Édouard Caillau on RTBF's Chansons à la carte. In France, he was a regular performer in short comic sketches, often in costume, on Guy Lux's programmes. ... Source: Article "Sim (actor)" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Most Famous Work

Midi Première
Average
10

Midi Première

(1975) Self
Midi trente
Average
6

Midi trente

(1972) Self
30 millions d'amis
Average
6

30 millions d'amis

(1976) Self
Système 2
Average
0

Système 2

(1975) Self
Cadet Rousselle
Average
0

Cadet Rousselle

(1971) Self
Les jeux de 20 heures
Average
0

Les jeux de 20 heures

(1976) Self
La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président
Average
8

La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président

(2022) Self (archive footage)

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
2022 Self (archive footage)
2008 Agecanonix
1999 Agecanonix
1997 Self
1993 Robert Requefort aka Bébert
1990 Flute player
1984 Vénus, le photographe
1982 Self
1980 Gaëtan
Legionary gendarme
1977 Napoleon
Malju
1976 Mehmet (as Sim O'Connor)
Self
Self
1975 Self
Self
Self
1974 Alexandre Ladislas Ladretsky, le pianiste / Le poissonnier
1973 Commissaire Grospèze
1972 Self
1971 Self
Lucas
Self
1970 Phalempin
1969 'Il Vecchio'
N/A
Year Character Movie/Tv

Directing

Year Role Movie/Tv
1993 Stage Director
Year Role Movie/Tv

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