Guy Marchand

Actor Guy Marchand has a been a familiar supporting actor in French cinema since the late 1960s, adding a bit of quiet menace or comedy when appropriate and proving that the best roles are not always the splashy lead ones. Over the years, Marchand has starred with plenty of the heavyweights of French film, including Gérard Depardieu, Isabelle Huppert, Catherine Deneuve, Philippe Noiret, and Yves Montand. One of his best roles was in Bertrand Tavernier's darkly comic yet disturbing neo-noir, "Coup de Torchon" based on the Jim Thompson novel "Pop. 1280," playing an absurdly authoritarian military commander. Some of his other notable roles can be seen in the lesser-known François Truffaut film "Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me," the romantic comedy "Cousin Cousine," the sexually provocative "Loulou," the New Wave-inspired "In Paris," and the disturbing psychological drama "Après Lui." He is also remembered for his role as the singer Memphis in the 1982 teen comedy "Les sous-doués en vacances," a film in which he performed the hit single "Destiny," much to his regret and embarrassment afterward because of the song's plastic pop feel.