Pierre Brice facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pierre Brice
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![]() Pierre Brice, in 2004
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Born | Brest, France |
6 February 1929
Died | 6 June 2015 Paris, France |
(aged 86)
Occupation | Actor |
Nationality | French |
Period | 1962–1997 |
Genre | Western |
Pierre-Louis Le Bris (born February 6, 1929 – died June 6, 2015), known as Pierre Brice, was a French actor. He was most famous for playing the role of Winnetou, a fictional Apache chief, in German movies based on the novels by Karl May.
Contents
Life and Acting Career
Pierre Brice was born in Brest, a city in Brittany, France. When he was 19, he joined the French Army. He fought in the First Indochina War, a conflict in Southeast Asia. During a patrol, a mine exploded near him, but he was lucky and not seriously hurt. He was also part of the Commandos Marine, which are special forces in the French Navy. Later, he served as a paratrooper during the Algerian War.
Becoming Winnetou
From 1962 to 1968, Pierre Brice starred in eleven West German Western films. These movies were based on books by the German author Karl May. In these films, Brice played the main character, Winnetou. Winnetou was a brave Native American chief of the Mescalero Apache tribe. He acted alongside other famous actors like Lex Barker, Stewart Granger, and Rod Cameron.
After the movies, Pierre Brice continued to play Winnetou on stage. He performed at the Karl May Festspiele in Elspe from 1977 to 1980 and again from 1982 to 1986. He also performed at the Karl May Festival in Bad Segeberg open-air theatre, Germany, from 1988 to 1991. He even directed some of these open-air plays until 1999. The theatre in Bad Segeberg is specially made for plays based on Karl May's stories.
Other Roles and TV Shows
Besides his famous theatre work, Pierre Brice also appeared in many TV series. These included Ein Schloß am Wörthersee (which means A Castle by the Wörthersee) and Die Hütte am See (Lakeview Cottage). In 1979, he played Winnetou again in a 14-part TV series called Mein Freund Winnetou (My friend Winnetou – Winnetou le Mescalero). This series was not based on Karl May's original books.
In 1997, he was in a two-part TV mini-series called Winnetous Rückkehr (The Return of Winnetou). Fans were surprised by this show because Winnetou had died in an earlier movie, Winnetou III. This story also did not come from Karl May's writings.
Pierre Brice tried to play different kinds of characters to move away from his Winnetou image. In 1976, he starred in the TV series Star Maidens. He also appeared in several movies for the big screen. He played Zorro in the Italian film Zorro contro Maciste (1963). He worked with Terence Hill (who was known as Mario Girotti at the time) in Shots in Threequarter Time (1965). He also reunited with Lex Barker in a non-Karl May film called The Hell of Manitoba (1965) and in the movie Killer's Carnival (1966).
Pierre Brice passed away on June 6, 2015, in a Paris hospital. He died from pneumonia.
Singing Career
Like his co-star Lex Barker, Pierre Brice also tried singing. He worked with German composer Martin Boettcher. He even released several singles and CDs. Most of his songs were in German. Since Brice did not understand German very well when he recorded them, he had to sing the words by sound.
- PIERRE BRICE: Ich steh' allein / Ribanna – DECCA D 19 557 (mono)
- PIERRE BRICE: Wunderschön / Keiner weiß den Tag – Decca, D 19 560
- PIERRE BRICE: Winnetou, Du warst mein Freund / Meine roten Brüder – Barclay
- PIERRE BRICE: Du fehlst mir / Der große Traum – CBS
- Winnetou du warst mein Freund – 1996, sampler CD, Bear Family Records
- This CD includes the songs listed above, as well as some songs by Lex Barker.
Partial Filmography
- Ça va barder (1955) – (uncredited)
- Le Septième Ciel (1958) – Un joueur
- Young Sinners (Les Tricheurs), directed by Marcel Carné (1958) – Bernard
- Le Miroir à deux faces (1958) – Jacques
- The Restless and the Damned (1959) – (uncredited)
- The Cossacks (1960) – Boris Sarubin
- Lipstick (Il rossetto), directed by Damiano Damiani (1960) – Gino Luciani
- Mill of the Stone Women (1960) – Hans von Arnim
- L'Homme à femmes (1960) – Laurent Berty
- The Pharaohs' Woman (La Donna dei Faraoni, 1960) – Amosis the Physician
- The Bacchantes (1961) – Dionysus
- Akiko (1961) – Duilio
- The Robbers (1962) – El Señorito
- Douce violence (1962) – Maddy
- Invasion 1700 (1962) – Jan Ketusky
- Treasure of the Silver Lake (1962) – Winnetou
- Un alibi per morire (1962)
- The Shortest Day (1963) – Un ufficiale austriaco (uncredited)
- The Invincible Masked Rider (1963) – Don Diego Morales
- Zorro contro Maciste (Samson and the Slave Queen, 1963) – Zorro / Ramon
- Apache Gold (Winnetou 1, 1963) – Winnetou
- Pacto de silencio (1963) – Jean Clausel
- Old Shatterhand (1964) – Winnetou
- Golden Goddess of Rio Beni (1964) – Jim
- Last of the Renegades (Winnetou 2, 1964) – Winnetou
- Among Vultures (1964) – Winnetou
- Shots in Threequarter Time (1965) – Philippe Tissot
- The Hell of Manitoba (1965) – Reese
- The Oil Prince (1965) – Winnetou
- The Desperado Trail (Winnetou 3, 1965) – Winnetou
- Old Surehand (1965) – Winnetou
- Dacii (1966) – Roman General Septimius Severus
- Killer's Carnival (1966) – Agent Brice (Rome segment)
- Winnetou and the Crossbreed (1966) – Winnetou
- Winnetou and Old Firehand (1966) – Winnetou
- Le Treizième Caprice (1967) – François
- The Valley of Death (1968) – Winnetou
- Un giorno, una vita (1970) – Giuliano
- Erika (1971) – Renato Laurana
- The Night of the Damned (1971) – Jean Duprey
- Les coups pour rien (1971) – Paul
- Sei una carogna... e t'ammazzo! (1972) – Barrett
- Féminin-féminin (1973) – Jacques
- Una cuerda al amanecer (1974) – Campanita 'Little Bell'
- Star Maidens (1976, TV series) – Adam
- Mein Freund Winnetou (1980, TV series) – Winnetou
- Ein Schloß am Wörthersee (1991–1993, TV series) – André Blondeau
- Hunt for the Blue Diamond (1993, TV film) – Pierre Latouche
See also
In Spanish: Pierre Brice para niños