Biography
Jean-Marc Thibault was born in Saint-Bris-le-Winey, France, in 1923. His sister later married politician Lionel Jospin. After attending theatre classes at the Cours Simon, Thibault worked in dance halls and performed sketches in cabarets. He made his first film appearance in Premier de cordée (1944), directed by Louis Daquin. Alongside Roger Pierre, he embarked on a lengthy career as a comedy duo in Parisian cabarets such as Le Tabou, Le Caveau de la Terreur, L'Amiral, and the Moulin-Rouge. Together, they wrote around 3,000 sketches and songs. They featured in numerous TV shows produced by Maritie and Gilbert Carpentier and co-starred in several film comedies. These included La Vie est belle (1956, directed by Roger Pierre and Jean-Marc Thibault), Vive les vacances (1958, written by Thibault and Pierre), Les Motards (1959, directed by Jean Laviron), also featuring Francis Blanche and co-written by Thibault and Pierre, Un cheval pour deux (1961), and Faites donc plaisir aux amis (1969, directed by Francis Rigaud). They also took supporting roles in other comedies such as Nous irons à Deauville (1962, directed by Francis Rigaud) with Louis de Funès, and Les Baratineurs (1965, directed by Francis Rigaud) starring Jean Poiret. Between 1967 and 1970, Thibault and Pierre hosted the TV show Les Grands Enfants. From 1972 to 1975, they entertained audiences across France with their historical comedy shows Les Maudits Rois Fainéants and Les Z'heureux Rois Z'Henri. Their final films together were the comedies En Grandes Pompes (1974, directed by André Teisseire) featuring Ginette Leclerc, and Gross Paris (1974, directed by Gilles Grangier).
In 1976, after 28 years of collaboration, Jean-Marc Thibault and Roger Pierre went their separate artistic ways. Thibault was cast by prolific director Yves Boisset in the crime film La Femme Flic (1978), starring alongside Miou-Miou. That same year, he appeared in Vaudeville (1978), directed by Jean Marboeuf. From 1985 to 1993, he starred in the popular television series Maguy and appeared in La Tête en l'air, a film for which the screenplay was written by his wife, Sophie Agacinski. In 2001, Thibault returned to cinema with two feature films: De l'amour (2001, directed by Jean-François Richet) and Vidocq (2001, directed by Pitof). The following year, he acted in Féroc (2002, directed by Gilles de Maistre) alongside Samy Naceri. Thibault and Pierre reunited twice: in 1984 for the show Nos Premiers Adieux at the Théâtre Antoine in Paris, and again in 1990 at l'Olympia. Roger Pierre passed away from cancer in 2010 at age 86. Jean-Marc Thibault is the father of Xavier and Frédéric Thibault, leaders of the Grand Orchestre du Splendid, and of actor and director Alexander Thibault.
