Children of famous parents often choose to follow in their footsteps. But sometimes, even trying to persuade them to continue in the family business doesn’t work, and the children choose a completely different career.
Today we tell you about one such case.
That’s exactly what happened to the son of the famous actor Louis de Funès, Olivier. He was the youngest of three children and his father thought he had a good acting talent. Yes, and people around him pointed out his attractive looks, which would be very helpful in a film career.
From childhood, Louis de Funes tried to encourage Olivier’s interest in acting.
In 1965, on the initiative of his father, Olivier de Funes played his first role in the film “Fantomas raging”, the part of Misha, the younger brother of the photographer Hélène. Of course, his father, “Commissaire Juve”, was at the side. Since then, almost every year in the films of Louis de Funes was a job and for his youngest son.
Olivier played the apprentice and godson of the chef in Mr Septim’s Restaurant, twice the son of the protagonist in Big Vacation and Frozen. In Man of the Orchestra, he played the nephew of choreographer Evans, and in the sixth film, In the Tree, he played a hitchhiker who got stuck in a tree in the car driven by Louis de Funès’ character, Henri Roubier.
The start of the young actor’s career seemed promising, and he was also a bit of a musician, playing percussion instruments. Olivier’s directors also made use of this talent. In “The Big Break” and “The Orchestra Man”, his characters had the chance to pick up drumsticks.
But the boy realised that cinema was not his thing. His dream was the sky. And in 1973, the younger De Funes finally decided to leave acting in the past and concentrate on his long-held dream of becoming a pilot. His father was afraid of such a dangerous profession and tried to dissuade Olivier.
But the boy insisted and, after training, began working as a pilot for the French airline Air France, where he had a great career. He retired in 2010.
The life of Olivier de Funès has always been as far from the public eye as possible for the son of one of France’s most popular actors. In fact, it is this kinship that has prompted the younger de Funès to recall himself in a book published in 2005, “Don’t talk about me too much, my children”, written in collaboration with his elder brother. Louis de Funès had a sequel to this sentence: “… there are so many more interesting people in the world than me!”
The family was happy and friendly, and the brothers recalled going to the circus with their father, where de Funès senior would rejoice at the sight of the clowns and grieve at the sight of the animals. His father hated crowds and big parties, bullfights and gunshots, politics and hunting.
Five years ago, Olivier had the opportunity to recall his acting past. He was invited by director Jamel Debouze to voice one of the characters in the cartoon “Why I did not eat my father”. According to Debouze, the character of the cook’s assistant in the cartoon was supposed to recall the features and character of Louis de Funès, and who, if not the actor’s son, who had worked so often with his father on the set, could best reproduce the right intonation!
Olivier de Funès married Dominique Watrand in 1977, who was known for her political activities. They had three children – a daughter, Julia, and two twin sons, Adrien and Charles. None of them chose to become actors.
