Georges de Caunes

Georges de Caunes

Born: April 26, 1919
Died: June 28, 2004
in Toulouse, France
Louis Georges Gustave de Caunes (26 April 1919 – 28 June 2004), professionally known as Georges de Caunes, was a well-known French television and radio presenter, journalist, writer and producer whose career spanned over six decades in French language television and radio.

De Caunes joined broadcasting in 1945, shortly after the Second World War, there he translated Voice of America into French for the National broadcaster Radiodiffusion française. When television was launched in 1949, De Caunes became one of the first newsreaders on National TV, for which he co-anchored with Pierre Tchernia and Claude Dargat. He later went freelance and in 1953 was offered a full-time presenting job on TMC, following a success on Monacan television, De Caunes was later offered a radio presenting job on the newly formed station Europe 1. Between 1964 and 1966 he was head anchor for the evening news on O.R.T.F and by 1967 he had moved to Radio Luxembourg to front the morning show.

He made guest appearances in other television productions including a few episodes of Le Voyageur des siècles. He was also the French commentator at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1971, 1975 and 1977. He was also had a passion for theatre and in 1979 wrote a play entitled Comédie pour un meurtre. He was also a keen sports presenter fronting several football matches across the world for French television.

De Caunes was married three times. His first wife was the writer Benoîte Groult, they had two daughters Blandine (born 1946) and Lison (born 1950). He left Groult for television presenter Jacqueline Joubert from whom they had a son Antoine (who is now one of France's best known entertainers and the host of Eurotrash). In 1960 De Caunes divorced Joubert and in 1967 he married reporter Anne-Marie Carmentrez they had two children together Marie and Pierre (who is now a presenter).

De Caunes became a grandfather in 1977, when his son Antoine's wife gave birth to a girl: Emma de Caunes who is now a well-known actress in France.

He was awarded both National Order of Merit and the Legion of Honour by President François Mitterrand.

Following a long time of illness, De Caunes died on 28 June 2004. Since his death, tributes rendered him, streets and avenues named after him. Writers of adventure books receive the "literary Prix Georges de Caunes" as the book festival in La Rochelle. Since 2005, the Festival Georges de Caunes, Human Adventure Sports and takes place in Vallauris (formerly Fidlas, International Film Festival and the Book of Sports Adventure).

Source: Article "Georges de Caunes" from Wikipedia in english, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Movies for Georges de Caunes...

La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président
Title: La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 7, 2022
Type: Movie
In May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became President of the Republic and wanted to bring about a new era of modernity. One of his first decisions was to break up the ORTF with the creation of three new television channels: TF1, Antenne 2 and FR3. Three new public channels but autonomous and competing. It is a race for the audience which is engaged then, and from now on the channels will make the war! This competition will give birth to a real golden age for television programs, with variety shows in the forefront. The stars of the song are going to invade the living rooms of the French for their biggest pleasure. This unedited documentary tells the story of the metamorphosis of this television of the early 1970s, between freedom of tone, scandals, political intrigues and programs that have become mythical.
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Mitterrand et la télé
Title: Mitterrand et la télé
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: May 11, 2021
Type: Movie
May 10th, 1981. François Mitterrand is elected President of the Republic. The “soviet tanks” supposedly coming upon the Champs-Élysées dressed in red, feared by some, did not march. Serge Moati takes a personal look at this episode, focusing on the relationship the president had with television, that he witnessed and played a role in.
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À la Mode
Title: À la Mode
Character: Journaliste TV
Released: September 10, 1993
Type: Movie
Fausto enters an orphanage and is initially bullied, but then makes friends with a new bunkmate, Raymond. He is apprenticed to Mietek, a tailor in the Jewish quarter, who teaches him the trade. Fausto charms everyone in the quarter, and falls in love with Tonie, the mechanic's daughter. He starts making outrageous suits for publicity and, after dressing Tonie, decides that he wants to be a famous couturier.
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Title: La Chance aux chansons
Character: Self
Released: March 26, 1984
Type: TV
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Title: Champs-Elysées
Character: Self
Released: January 16, 1982
Type: TV
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Title: 30 millions d'amis
Character: Self
Released: January 6, 1976
Type: TV
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The Fuhrer Runs Amok
Title: The Fuhrer Runs Amok
Character: Le Présentateur
Released: April 12, 1974
Type: Movie
France and Germany are at war. Adolf Hitler challenges the Allies to seal the fate of the war by playing a football match.
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Jeu de dames
Title: Jeu de dames
Character: Pierre Bangor
Released: May 17, 1973
Type: Movie
Seeking isolation in his mansion, on a Breton island, misogynist writer Pierre Bangor has the unpleasant surprise of finding four cover-girls installed in their exuberance and artifice.
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Chance at Love
Title: Chance at Love
Released: December 30, 1964
Type: Movie
Four sketches revolving around the themes of luck and love.
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Tartarin de Tarascon
Title: Tartarin de Tarascon
Released: November 22, 1962
Type: Movie
A well-to-do bourgeois, Tartarin lives in Tarascon, a small southern town, among friends who, like him, love hunting "à la casquette", gossip, aperitifs and thought-provoking journeys. Imaginative like all his compatriots, Tartarin ended up believing he had once been to Shanghai, so fervently did he recount his illusory adventures. It was even rumored that Tartarin was about to leave for Africa to hunt wild beasts, and this was so insistent that the brave man, urged on by his friends, was forced "for the sake of honor" to embark. He arrives in Casablanca, surprised to discover a modern city and not a single lion. But a charming Moorish woman, Baïa, seduces him, and Tartarin indulges in the "delights of Capua". This euphoria is short-lived: Baïa disappears, a false prince, mostly a swindler, finds a replacement and sets off on a hunting expedition in southern Morocco, which will only earn Tartarin the loss of his savings and a blind old lion dragged along by two beggars.
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Alibi pour un meurtre
Title: Alibi pour un meurtre
Character: Mauliaire
Released: August 23, 1961
Type: Movie
Married to a businessman who neglects her, Laurence cheats on him with Mauliaire, a young actor. Letters and photos of the young woman addressed to her lover are stolen by a blackmailer who demands a large sum in exchange. Distraught, Laurence goes to see Maître Tom Savier and displays such persuasive charm that the lawyer gives in to her demands and decides to get her out of this predicament. But he is soon spotted by the blackmailer. Meanwhile, Laurence disappears. Following a visit to Mauliaire, Tom discovers that the woman he has met is not Laurance, but Lydie Audry, the industrialist's mistress. As for Laurence, her mutilated corpse is discovered at a level crossing. Was it a crime? Accident? Suicide? Inspector Muller is put in charge of the investigation, and his suspicions turn to the blackmailer. After many twists and turns, the real culprit is unmasked.
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Secret professionnel
Title: Secret professionnel
Released: October 21, 1959
Type: Movie
Catherine Langeac and André Foucaud are a medical couple, she a general practitioner and he a gynecologist. Their attentiveness and understanding enable them to solve many of their patients' problems.
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Title: Discorama
Character: Self - Co-Host
Released: February 4, 1959
Type: TV
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Title: Discorama
Character: Self - Host
Released: February 4, 1959
Type: TV
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Route des Cimes
Title: Route des Cimes
Character: Narrator (French version)
Released: September 18, 1957
Type: Movie
With the tank truck of the company British Petroleum (BP), the Bozzetto fuel delivery man crosses mountain roads in winter. Headed to Val d'Isère in Savoie, it faces, night and day, the vagaries of traffic in snowy weather, and penetrates the life of the winter sports resort living to the rhythm of development activities. , sports and tourism: tunnel construction, snow milling machine, cable car, hotel and catering as well as skiing from the peaks to the village (off-piste descent demonstration by Lionel Terray).
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Tahiti
Title: Tahiti
Character: The journalist
Released: May 17, 1957
Type: Movie
A few aspects of Tahiti, whose inhabitants lead an easy, idle life.
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Title: En direct de...
Character: self
Released: February 16, 1956
Type: TV
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Greenland
Title: Greenland
Character: Narrator
Released: April 23, 1952
Type: Movie
Groenland: twenty thousand leagues on the ice is a French documentary film directed by Marcel Ichac and Jean-Jacques Languepin, released in 1952 on the expedition of Paul-Émile Victor and his team in Greenland, in 1948-1949. The film received the Special Jury Prize - scientific or educational film at the Cannes Film Festival in 1952.
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Over the waves
Title: Over the waves
Character: Self
Released: May 11, 1951
Type: Movie
Panorama of the programs and hosts who made the heyday of radio in the 1950s.