– The tall blonde for her 90th birthday

Hardly any actor is as closely linked to the title of his first big box office hit as Pierre Richard (90). Although it is more than half a century since the French comedian celebrated his international breakthrough in 1973 with the spy film parody “The Tall Blond Man with the Black Shoe”, in Germany “the tall blond man” is still an undisputed synonym for the artist.

It doesn’t matter that Richard has since appeared in over 50 other films, that his hair has turned snow white and that, as he joked in an interview with the “Badische Zeitung” a few years ago, he can only be sent on stage as “the tall blond guy with the orthopedic shoe”.

Breakthrough with “The Tall Blond Man with the Black Shoe”

Pierre Richard’s sudden world fame with “The Tall Blond Man with the Black Shoe” was mainly due to the enthusiasm with which the eccentric spy comedy was received by German audiences. When the film premiered in French cinemas in December 1972, it was only a modest success. It was only when the film took cinemas by storm in a German dubbed version a year later that it became an international box office hit and finally made Pierre Richard a superstar in his home country too.

Caught in the comedic spiral of success

“’The Tall Blond Man with the Black Shoe’ made me famous worldwide, it changed everything,” Quotes from “Deutschlandfunk Kultur” from the spectacular success. However, the role of the absurdly clumsy violinist, who inadvertently becomes the target of the secret services in the film, has kept him fixated on such comedic roles for the rest of his life. “Perhaps this spiral of success with the comedies prevented me from thinking about the kind of cinema that really suits me,” reflects the elderly actor looking back.

The cult surrounding Pierre Richard and the “tall blond man with the black shoe” took on grotesque proportions, especially in GermanyIn an effort to capitalize on the enormous success of this box office hit at any cost, numerous other Richard comedies followed with German distribution titles that alluded to “the tall blond man”, although their content had no connection to the “original”. These include “The Tall Blond Man with Red Hair” (1974), “The Man with the Fast Feet” (1978) and “The Tall Blond Man and the Little Black Dress” (1975).

Career highlights with Gérard Depardieu

In the 1980s, Richards’ career reached another high point with several successful comedies alongside Gerard Depardieu (75). While Depardieu took on the role of the tough guy in “The Fool and His Horse” (1981), “Two Mad Lovers” (1983) and “The Fugitive” (1986), Richard once again reliably embodied the lovable klutz that the audience associated with his name and expected from him.

It was only in later years that Pierre Richard tried to shed his image as a perpetual bungler and to prove his talent in more serious roles, such as in the tragicomedy “The Recipes of a Good Cook” (1996) or the historical film “The Foundling” (2000). Although these films were generally well received, they were less well received by audiences than his action-packed comedies.

Although Richard continued to make films over the past three decades, only a few of them reached German audiences, and many were not even shown in cinemas here. Notable exceptions were the French-German comedy “And if we all lived together?” from 2011, in which Richard played alongside Jane Fonda (86), Geraldine Chaplin (80) and Daniel Brühl (46), and the relationship comedy “Monsieur Pierre goes online” (2017).

Cannes comeback with Johnny Depp

The fact that Richard is a great personality despite his advanced age was also demonstrated at the 76th Cannes Film Festival in May 2023, when he walked the red carpet together with US superstar Johnny Depp (61) to present the opening film “Jeanne du Barry – The King’s Darling”, in which both starred.

In an interview with the “Badische Zeitung”, Pierre Richard jokingly admitted that from now on he could only be sent on stage as “the tall blond guy with the orthopedic shoe” – in reference to his cult role in the film.

Despite his attempts to shed his comedic image and prove his talent in serious roles, Pierre Richard’s career in Germany remains primarily associated with the cult of “The Tall Blond Man with the Black Shoe”.

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