Jean-Christophe Averty
Known for

Directing

Credits

41

Gender

Man

Birthday

6 Aug 1928

Day of death

4 Mar 2017 (88)

Place of birth

Paris, France

Also known as

Jean-Christophe Averty

Biography

Jean-Christophe Averty (6 August 1928 – 4 March 2017[1]) was a French television and radio director, and Satrap of the College of 'Pataphysique. Many of his television productions from the 1960s were early examples of French video art. His studies were used in the following decades by the research groups of the French National Audiovisual Institute (INA). Averty was born in Paris. A graduate of the IDHEC film school, he started in television in 1952 at the then French Television Office. He directed over five hundred programs for television and radio, across all disciplines: fiction, documentary, drama, variety, and jazz. His many awards include an Emmy award in the United States. Averty was appointed Satrap of the College of 'Pataphysique in 1990, due to his fascination for Alfred Jarry and Pataphysique. Averty made his reputation on his strong character, his taste for provocation and his sense for innovative television. His 1963 series The Green Grapes was infamous for a recurring sequence of a baby being put through a grater. A keen connoisseur of jazz, Averty filmed the Jazz à Juan festival for many years. The pianist Martial Solal paid him a tribute in one of his compositions: Averty, c'est moi (Averty that's me). Over 28 years, he hosted 1,805 episodes of his radio show Les Cinglés du music-hall, based on his own collection of jazz and variety 78s that he had bought in flea markets around the world. The show was cancelled in 2006 under Jean-Paul Cluzel's chairmanship of Radio France. The French section of the shows was based on notebooks entrusted to him by André Cauzard, filled with daily details of pre-war jazz music events. Averty directed television shows where he applied his singular style to showcase the greatest francophone singers such as Françoise Hardy, Yves Montand, Johnny Hallyday, Sylvie Vartan, Juliette Greco, Georges Brassens, Dalida, France Gall, Serge Gainsbourg, Gilbert Bécaud, Guy Marchand, Léo Ferré, Tino Rossi, and Jean Sablon, and as well as foreign musicians such as Patty Pravo. In 1969 Averty directed the TV movie Le Songe d'une nuit d'été, starring Claude Jade, Christine Delaroche and Jean-Claude Drouot, and filmed entirely in bluescreen. His television creations are landmarks in their use of video as a mode of artistic expression. Averty made great use of characters filmed against a blue screen, overlaid on a drawn background. Examples are Sapeur Camembert, based on the eponymous work of Georges Colomb, and a production of Edmond Rostand's classic play Chantecler. Averty was one of the last salaried directors of the French Production Company. In 2012, he entrusted the management, conservation and safeguarding of the rights of all of his television and radio works to the French National Audiovisual Institute (INA); nearly a thousand television programs on jazz, sports, fashion, variety and the theater. Source: Article "Jean-Christophe Averty" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Known for
Acting roles
YearMovie / TV show / OtherRole
2022La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était présidentSelf (archive footage)
2017Raymond Roussel: The Day of GlorySelf
2017Les trésors cachés des variétésSelf
2016Au service de Jean-Christophe Averty mode JarrySelf
2016Au service de Jean-Christophe Averty mode ShakespeareSelf
1995Comment devenir cinéaste sans se prendre la têteLe cinéaste
1975ApostrophesSelf
1972Le Grand ÉchiquierSelf
1971Samedi soirSelf
1971La Lucarne magiqueUne personnalité
1964Grimme-Preis-VerleihungSelf
1959DiscoramaSelf
1957It Happened on the 36 CandlesAssistant director (uncredited)
1948Bambi AwardsSelf
Credits
YearMovie / TV show / OtherRole
Impressions d'AfriqueDirector
Une visite à l'exposition de 1889Director
Les Mariés de la Tour EiffelDirector
2011Ray Charles - Live in France 1961Director
1995Alfred Jarry - 1873-1907Director
1982Les Mamelles de TirésiasDirector
1981Ubu cocu ou l'archéoptéryxDirector
1980Émilie JolieDirector
1977Aretha Franklin - Live in ParisDirector
1976The Carpathian CastleDirector
1973MusidoraDirector
1973MusidoraWriter
1971MelodyDirector
1971Ubu enchaînéDirector
1971Un beau ténébreuxDirector
1970Alice au pays des merveillesDirector
1969A Midsummer Night's DreamDirector
1969Soft Self-Portrait of Salvador DaliDirector
1969A Midsummer Night's DreamWriter
1968IdeaDirector
1967Ça c'est Claude FrançoisDirector
1965Ubu RoiDirector
1965The Beatles: Live in ParisProducer
1964Les verts pâturagesDirector
1963Ella Fitzgerald à l'OlympiaDirector
1957The Melbourne RendezvousAssistant Director
1951Vacances à la merDirector