Claude Cerval

Claude Cerval — Biography

Claude Cerval was a French character actor who appeared in more than forty films from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s. His real name was André Marcel Gabriel Leloup. He also worked in television and the theatre, and one of his best-remembered parts was the detestable Count of Nansac in the 1969 ORTF series Jacquou le Croquant.

He began with drama lessons, Louis Jouvet among his teachers. He performed in cabarets and on stage, notably at the Odéon, before joining the Théâtre national populaire. On screen he played Jean in Bob le Flambeur (1956) and the priest in Le Beau Serge (1958). The 1960s were his busiest years, with Classe tous risques, The Love Game, L'empire de la nuit, Ophélia, Germinal (as Victor Maigrat), Any Number Can Win (as the police commissioner) and Crime on a Summer Morning.

In his last years he appeared in films such as Belle de Jour (1967), The Woman Is a Stranger (1968) and The Milky Way (1969). In 1971 he played Marc Orsini in Angel's Leap and the investigating judge in Mourir d'aimer. Born in Paris, he died there in 1972 at the age of 51.