French voice actor Claude Pieplu dead at 83

Posted:
May 25, 2006

Veteran actor Claude Pieplu, the voice in various incarnations of the long-running French animated series Les Shadoks, has died at 83, his family said Thursday.

Pieplu, who died at Sainte-Perine Hospital in Paris, appeared in over 70 movies and many plays during his six-decade career. Often, he played the average Frenchman.

However, he was even better-known as the high-pitched voice in Les Shadoks, a much-loved series whose title came from the name of strange, birdlike creatures from another planet.

Les Shadoks first aired on TV in 1968. Sequels were broadcast in 1970 and 1973. Pieplu also had voice roles in those, as well as in the 2000 TV series Les Shadoks et le Big Blank.

He also narrated the 1986 animated TV series Les Matics.

Pieplu "became for each of us a familiar figure" with his distinctive voice, said Veronique Cayla, head of the France's national Center for Cinematography.

Pieplu provided the voice of the Palace Mayor in the 1980 animated feature film Le Roi et L'Oiseau(The King and the Mockingbird).

In his advanced years, he portrayed Panoramix (Miraculix) and Getafix in Claude Zidi's live-action 1999 movie Astérix et Obélix contre César (Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar), based on René Goscinny's popular series of comic books.

Claude Leon Auguste Pieplu was born on May 10, 1923, in Paris. He was a bank employess for six years before becoming an actor.

First on stage in 1945, Pieplu made his movie debut in 1948's D'homme à hommes (Man to Men). He worked with famed director Luis Bunuel in The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), playing a colonel. Once in a while, he took on a serious role, such as in in Constantin Costa-Gavras' 1974 film Section Speciale (Special Section).

He was nominated for a César -- France's equivalent of the Oscar -- for best supporting actor for his role as The Professor in Michel Deville's 1986 crime drama Le Paltoquet.