Patachou

Patachou

Born: June 10, 1918
Died: April 30, 2015
in Paris, France
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.

Movies for Patachou...

Title: Pierre or The Ambiguities
Character: Margherite
Released: September 24, 2001
Type: TV
This alternate extended TV version of Pola X continues to follow a writer who leaves his upper-class life to journey with a woman claiming to be his sister, and her two friends. New sequences explore the writer's dreams and his relationships with his mother, sister and fiancée.
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Les Petites Mains
Title: Les Petites Mains
Character: Marguerite
Released: September 1, 2001
Type: Movie
After the closure of a lace factory in Calais, Andrée, Lulu and Solange are out on the street.
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Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre
Title: Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre
Character: Geneviève
Released: April 3, 2001
Type: Movie
A collection of artifacts from an archeological dig in Egypt are brought to the famous Louvre museum in Paris, and while experts are using a laser scanning device to determine the age of a sarcophagus, a ghostly spirit escapes and makes its way into the museum's electrical system.
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Adventures of Félix
Title: Adventures of Félix
Character: Mathilde Firmin
Released: April 19, 2000
Type: Movie
A charming comedy about going on a rather long walk. Félix is a laid-back guy living in the bleak northern coastal town of Dieppe. He lives happily with his lover Daniel and is a soap opera enthusiast and HIV-positive. After losing his job, Félix decides to find the father he never knew in Marseilles. Agreeing to meet Daniel in the southern port city in a week's time, Félix throws on his backpack and starts hiking. On his way, he discovers that family need not always be connected by blood.
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Pola X
Title: Pola X
Character: Marguerite
Released: May 12, 1999
Type: Movie
A writer leaves his upper-class life and journeys with a woman claiming to be his sister, and her two friends.
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Hold-up en l'air
Title: Hold-up en l'air
Character: Emilie Sagglia
Released: November 29, 1996
Type: Movie
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Tendre piège
Title: Tendre piège
Character: Madeleine
Released: May 10, 1996
Type: Movie
The engagement of a young couple is spoiled by the antics of their relatives.
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Le Cœur étincelant
Title: Le Cœur étincelant
Released: January 1, 1995
Type: Movie
A young woman is sure that her son is alive
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Title: Les Cordier, juge et flic
Character: Mrs. Lemoine
Released: February 24, 1994
Type: TV
The Cordier fight in family against the crime: the father is police captain, the son, investigating judge and the girl, a journalist.
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Wild Target
Title: Wild Target
Character: Mme. Meynard
Released: August 18, 1993
Type: Movie
Victor Meynard, a hit man who still lives with his mother, is becoming more reluctant to pull the trigger during assignments. He meets a young man, Antoine, whom he takes under his wing after being unable to kill him. Their lives change when he meets Renée, an art forger who has earned the wrath of powerful mob leaders. Unwilling to assassinate the new object of his affections, Victor must run and hide with two new friends in tow.
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Les matins chagrins
Title: Les matins chagrins
Released: October 31, 1990
Type: Movie
Dan, a journalist, lives alone with his daughter since his wife left him for a friend. When he accepts an appointment with him, he finds him dead. Dan decides to investigate the circumstances of the death.
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Title: Orages d'été, avis de tempête
Character: Marthe
Released: July 5, 1990
Type: TV
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The Carpathian Mushroom
Title: The Carpathian Mushroom
Character: Madame Ambrogiano
Released: March 7, 1990
Type: Movie
A miraculous mushroom is discovered by a film director's daughter.It would be used to cure an actress.
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The Man Who Lived at the Ritz
Title: The Man Who Lived at the Ritz
Released: November 28, 1988
Type: Movie
In this drama, an American art student is trapped amidst the political turmoil of war-torn Europe while visiting Paris and staying at the fabulous Ritz hotel. Rather than cope constructively with it all, the fellow opts to ignore it and continue living the high-life for as long as possible.
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Avec sentiment
Title: Avec sentiment
Released: September 1, 1987
Type: Movie
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La Rumba
Title: La Rumba
Character: Meyrals
Released: February 18, 1987
Type: Movie
Paris, 1938. In a lavishly decorated nightclub, couples dance the syncopated rhythms of Latin America: Rumba, Cucaracha, Tango, and also the Charleston, Foxtrot and Boston. Among beautiful women, local pimps and Mussolini's spies brush each other on the dance floor, and in the streets. A police inspector is charged with a difficult task, to clean-up the city streets - just when bodies start falling around, as the Mafia and the spies tend each other deadly traps.
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Faubourg St Martin
Title: Faubourg St Martin
Character: Mme Coppercage
Released: December 3, 1986
Type: Movie
Imagine a slightly dilapidated three star hotel in the tenth arrondissement run by a very distinguished lady with moral fibre and panache, Mrs. Coppercage. Alongside tourists visiting Paris, Mrs. Coppercage rents three rooms to three women at a monthly rate. Each woman is marked by life, yet they go on as best they can, never closing their eyes to the world around them, or to the men who impatiently await them. Faubourg Saint Martin opens as a love story and ends like a song as shots ring out and punctuate the chorus.
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Title: La Chance aux chansons
Character: Self
Released: March 26, 1984
Type: TV
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Title: L'Académie des 9
Character: Self
Released: September 13, 1982
Type: TV
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Title: Numéro un
Character: Self
Released: April 5, 1975
Type: TV
A French variety show.
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Title: Système 2
Character: Self
Released: January 19, 1975
Type: TV
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Title: Midi trente
Character: Self
Released: March 6, 1972
Type: TV
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Title: Le Grand Échiquier
Character: Self
Released: January 12, 1972
Type: TV
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Title: À bout portant
Character: Self
Released: December 16, 1968
Type: TV
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Title: Es spielt für Sie...
Character: Self
Released: April 22, 1963
Type: TV
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Title: The Merv Griffin Show
Character: Self
Released: October 1, 1962
Type: TV
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to August 15, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in first-run syndication from February 14, 1972 to September 5, 1986.
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Title: Discorama
Character: Self
Released: February 4, 1959
Type: TV
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French Cancan
Title: French Cancan
Character: Yvette Guilbert
Released: April 27, 1955
Type: Movie
Nineteenth-century Paris comes vibrantly alive in Jean Renoir’s exhilarating tale of the opening of the world-renowned Moulin Rouge. Jean Gabin plays the wily impresario Danglard, who makes the cancan all the rage while juggling the love of two beautiful women—an Egyptian belly-dancer and a naive working girl turned cancan star.
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Napoleon
Title: Napoleon
Character: Madame Sans-Gêne
Released: March 25, 1955
Type: Movie
The film follows the life of Napoleon from his early life in Corsica to his death at Saint Helena. The film is notable for its use of location shooting for numerous scenes, especially at the French estates of Malmaison and Fontainebleau, the Palace of Versailles, and sites of Napoleonic battles including Austerlitz and Waterloo.
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Femmes de Paris
Title: Femmes de Paris
Released: May 17, 1953
Type: Movie
Professor Charles Buisson, astronomer and Nobel Prize winner, has just discovered a nova. He informs the other observatories by telephone. Just as he thinks one of them is calling back, he finds himself on the line with a young woman threatening suicide at the Ruban Bleu cabaret, if her lover hasn't joined her by midnight. Intrigued, the professor decides to go and prevent the unfortunate woman from committing suicide. One of his students, who earns her living as an understudy in a knife act, helps him in his investigation, while the school principal and a policeman suspect him of being a prankster or even of selling drugs. For the scientist, it's an opportunity to discover a world of music-hall that he'd never known before: "I thought I knew the sky chart by heart, but there's one planet that was totally unknown to me: Earth. I'll be back!
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Title: The Ed Sullivan Show
Character: Self
Released: June 20, 1948
Type: TV
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
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Title: The Ed Sullivan Show
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: June 20, 1948
Type: TV
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
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Title: The Ed Sullivan Show
Character: Self - Singer
Released: June 20, 1948
Type: TV
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.