André Maranne

André Maranne (born André Gaston Maillol; 14 May 1926 – 12 April 2021) was a French-British actor, who appeared in numerous film and television character roles beginning in the mid-1950s. He was best known for playing Police Sergeant François Chevalier in six Pink Panther films alongside Peter Sellers.

Maranne was born André Gaston Maillol in Toulouse, in 1926. He was raised by a single mother, Fanita Malliol, and spent part of his childhood in Algeria. In the 1930s, the family moved to Paris. After a brief stint studying at the drama school of the Comédie-Française, Maranne joined the Army, acting in regional theatre after his discharge.

In 1955, he married an English schoolteacher, Moira Mitchell, and moved to the United Kingdom. He was naturalised as a British citizen in 1967.

Maranne's best known role was probably Sergeant François Chevalier in six Pink Panther films alongside Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom and Burt Kwouk. Before the Pink Panther, he appeared as a French officer in The War Lover (1962) and had a cameo role in the James Bond movie Thunderball (1965).

Maranne appeared in such diverse television programmes as Merton Park Studios' Scotland Yard (as a gendarme in 1956 episode "Wall of Death" and credited as André Maillol & the 1957 episode "Night Crossing" as Detective Nouvel credited as Andre Maranne), Jason King ("Wanna buy a television series?", 1971), Fawlty Towers (as André in the 1975 "Gourmet Night" episode), Lord Peter Wimsey ("Clouds of Witness", 1972), Yes Minister (as European Agricultural Commissioner Maurice, proponent of the "euro-sausage", in "Party Games", 1984, the episode in which Jim Hacker becomes UK Prime Minister), All Creatures Great and Small and Doctor Who (The Moonbase, 1967).

Maranne was also one of the four co-presenters of the French teaching programme, Bonjour Françoise on the BBC in the 1960s; he acted in all eight episodes of La Chasse au Trésor (1967) as well as all 24 episodes of Ensemble-French for Beginners in the 1970s, also for the BBC. Maranne provided English audio translation of French-speaking interviewees in the 1988 ITV documentary The Men Who Killed Kennedy.

Maranne had a stepson, television director Bruce MacDonald. He maintained a summer villa in Aix-en-Provence, and was an avid windsurfer.

Maranne died 12 April 2021 in Brighton^{[citation needed]} at the age of 94.