The Childhood:

Unpacking the Early Life of a Comic Legend

Louis's early schooling was somewhat turbulent. He spent his childhood in Villiers-sur-Marne before being sent to the strict Jules-Ferry College in Coulommiers. A dreamer, he longed for freedom, finding solace in drawing, fishing, and making his peers laugh, a stark contrast to finding himself a target of bullying. However, his theatrical debut in “Le Royal Dindon”, a comic opera, showed a spark of the comedic talent to come, with one local paper praising his peculiar "soldier-like" and "policeman" gestures. This performance anticipated his later comedic roles, such as his unforgettable portrayal in Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez.

Following uninspired secondary studies, and urged by his brother, Louis enrolled in a fur school, before being expelled for causing a disturbance. Eventually, his parents had enough and enrolled him in a photography and cinema school. One of his classmates was Henri Decaë, another essential figure of French cinema, who became Louis's cinematographer. Louis, however, was expelled again after committing arson. After this string of rejections and odd jobs, Louis held various jobs from which he was repeatedly fired. His son, Olivier, recounted that Luis spoke of his jobs only in interviews and rarely to his family. The numerous jobs hinted at his chaotic nature, and his character in Rabbi Jacob, or his other roles such as La Folie des Grandeurs, which reflects the comedic chaos that would become his trademark style. 

His early life, filled with family quirks, strict schooling and job instability, provided fertile ground for the comedic genius that would eventually capture the hearts of audiences worldwide.