Jean-Claude Pascal

Jean-Claude Pascal
Jean-Claude Pascal
	Pascal in 1945
Born	Jean-Claude Villeminot; 24 October 1927; Paris, France
Died	5 May 1992 (aged 64); Clichy, France

Jean-Claude Villeminot (24 October 1927 – 5 May 1992), better known as Jean-Claude Pascal (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ klod paskal]), was a French comedian, actor, singer and writer.

Early life

He was born in Paris into a family of wealthy textile manufacturers. His mother, Arlette Lemoine, was the great-granddaughter of English fashion designer Charles Frederick Worth. His father, Roger Villeminot, died the year of his birth.^[1]

He began his secondary education in 1938 at the Collège Annel, in Compiègne, and concluded it at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly in Paris. In 1944, at the age of 17, he enlisted in the 2nd Armored Division of General Leclerc. He was the first French soldier to enter Strasbourg in November 1944, while the German Army was still in the process of evacuating the city. For this, he received the Croix de Guerre in 1945.^[2]

Career

After surviving World War II in Strasbourg, Pascal studied at the Sorbonne before turning to fashion-designing for Christian Dior. While working on costumes for the theater production of the play Don Juan, he was exposed to acting. His first acting role was in the film Le jugement de Dieu (1949, released in 1952) and afterwards in "Le rideau cramoisi", 1951, opposite Anouk Aimée, followed by several films including Die schöne Lügnerin (La Belle et l'empereur 1959, 'Beautiful Liar') with Romy Schneider, and Angelique and the Sultan (Angélique et le sultan, 1968) with Michèle Mercier.

Pascal won the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg with the song "Nous les amoureux" ('We the lovers'), with music composed by Jacques Datin and lyrics by Maurice Vidalin. The song tells the story of a thwarted love between the singer and his lover ("they would like to separate us, they would like to hinder us / from being happy"). The lyrics go on about how the relationship is rejected by others but will finally be possible ("but the time will come. [...] and I will be able to love you without anybody in town talking about it. [...] [God] gave us the right to happiness and joy."). Later, Pascal explained that the song was about a homosexual relationship and the difficulties it faced. As this topic would have been considered controversial in the early 1960s, the lyrics are ambiguous and do not refer to the lovers' gender. This allowed hiding the song's actual message, which was not understood in this way by the general public at the time.^[3] Pascal was, himself, gay.^[4]

He later represented Luxembourg again in the

C'est peut-être pas l'Amérique" ('It may not be America'), with words and music he composed together with Sophie Makhno and Jean-Claude Petit. Pascal died in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine

in 1992, aged 64, of stomach cancer.

Discography

Filmography

Great Man (1951), as L'interne Marcillac
They Were Five (1952), as Philippe
Four Red Roses (1951), as Pietro Leandri
La Forêt de l'adieu [fr] (1952), as Jean-Pierre
Judgement of God (1952), as Albert III, Duke of Bavaria
Le Plus Heureux des hommes [fr] (1952), as Michel Brissac
The Crimson Curtain (1953), as The officer
A Caprice of Darling Caroline (1953), as Livio
Children of Love (1953), as Doctor Jacques Baurain
Alarm in Morocco (1953), as Jean Pasqier
Le Chevalier de la nuit
(1953), as Chevalier Georges de Ségar
Tempest in the Flesh (1954), as Gino
Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954), as Axel von Fersen
Flesh and the Woman (1954), as Pierre Martel
The Three Thieves (1954), as Gastone Cascarilla
Caroline and the Rebels (1955), as Juan d'Aranda / de Sallanches
Bad Liaisons
(1955), as Blaise Walter
Milord l'Arsouille (1955), as Lord Henry Seymour
The Wages of Sin (1956), as Jean de Charvin
The Lebanese Mission (1956), as Jean Domèvre
Les Lavandières du Portugal (1957), as Jean-François Aubray
Guinguette (1959), as Marco
Pêcheur d'Islande (1959), as Guillaume Floury
Le Fric [fr] (1959), as Jacques Moulin
Die schöne Lügnerin [de] (1959), as Tsar Alexander I
The Opportunists (1960), as Philippe Brideau
Préméditation (1960), as Bernard Sommet
The Crossroads (1960), as Javier
Le Rendez-vous (1961), as Pierre
La Salamandre d'or [fr] (1962), as Antoine de Montpezat
Sans merveille [fr] (TV film, 1964), as Franck
Vol 272 (TV miniseries, 1964), as Marc
Le Faux Pas [fr] (TV film, 1965), as Robert
The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966), as Galam Khan
Comment ne pas épouser un milliardaire [fr] (TV series, 1966), as Commandant Jean Leroy-Dantec
Las cuatro bodas de Marisol [es] (1967), as Frank Moore
Untamable Angelique (1967), as Osman Ferradji
Angelique and the Sultan (1968), as Osman Ferradji
Under the Roofs of St. Pauli (1970), as Doctor Pasucha
Au théâtre ce soir: Les Français à Moscou (TV play, 1972), as Blanchet
Le Temps de vivre, le temps d'aimer (TV series, 1973), as Jean Moser
Le Chirurgien de Saint-Chad (TV series, 1976), as Doctor Patrick Villaresi
Liebe läßt alle Blumen blühen (TV film, 1984), as Marquis de Formentière
Au théâtre ce soir: Adieu Prudence (TV play, 1985), as Fred Russel

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Jacqueline Boyer with "Tom Pillibi"	Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1961	Succeeded by Isabelle Aubret with "Un premier amour"
Preceded by So laang we's du do bast "	Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961	Succeeded by Petit bonhomme "
Preceded by Sophie & Magaly with "Papa Pingouin "	Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1981	Succeeded by Cours après le temps "