Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Georges Biard · CC BY-SA 3.0

Darry Cowl

Stage actor · died at 80

Profile

Age at death	80
Birth date	August 27, 1925
Birthplace	Vittel
Died	February 14, 2006
Profession	Stage actor, Comedian, Pianist, Screenwriter, Author
Zodiac sign	Virgo

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Darry Cowl — Biography

French comic actor and musician Darry Cowl, whose real name was André Darricau, was born in Vittel on 27 August 1925 and died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on 14 February 2006. Trained towards music, he reached the stage as a cabaret pianist, and the bewildered character he built around his stammer and lisp made his sketches popular on television at the start of the 1950s.

Sacha Guitry cast him in his final pictures, and in 1957 his first leading part, in Le Triporteur, drew close to five million cinemagoers and turned him into a star of French comedy. For three decades he worked at a rate of up to five films a year, and he directed once, Jaloux comme un tigre (1964). Gambling drove him to accept a great many undemanding productions, which he explained by admitting that he did not read the scripts he signed for.

From the 1990s he chose more ambitious work and was received warmly by critics. A Molière Award for a supporting performance came in 1995 for two Feydeau plays, an Honorary César in 2001, and in 2004 the César for best supporting actor as the concierge in Alain Resnais's Pas sur la bouche, his last screen appearance. He died at 80 of complications of lung cancer.

Last reviewed: November 1, 2026

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