Paul Écoffard
(COMEDIENS)
84 Rue Lepic, 75018 Paris, France
A student at the Conservatoire de Nancy, actor Paul Écoffard would go on to join the Comédie-Française in 1946, the oldest active theatre company in the world. He had a long and active theatre career that flourished from the mid 1940s to the beginning of the 1980s. He starred in a handful of TV and cinema films but it was theatre that held his heart. His son, Michel Ecoffard, is a writer, poet and director at the Théâtre de la Chimère.

Maurice Baquet
(CHANTEURS ET CHANTEUSES)
82 Rue Lepic, 75018 Paris, France
A man of many talents, Maurice Baquet was a cellist, actor, sportsman and entertainer. He was a cello student at the Conservatoire de Lyon and then in Paris. In 1935, he made his feature film debut under the direction of Marc Allégret in Les Beaux Jours. He would go on to star in more than 100 TV and cinema films. He had a handsome theatre career, and performed in cabaret, sometimes accompanied on tap dance by Jacqueline Figus, his first wife. He also took part in ski mountaineering competitions, as well as in more humorous performances, such as his ski descent from the stairs of the Butte Montmartre.

Daniel Ivernel
(COMÉDIENS)
11 Rue de l’Armée d’Orient, 75018 Paris, France
Actor Daniel Ivernel (1918-1999) was the brother of director Vicky Ivernel and married to actress and singer Christiane Lasquin. He was first hired at the Comédie-Française in 1943, quickly moving on to join the troupe of Marcel Herrand and Jean Marchat, then Charles Dullin and finally Jean Vilar. He spent 10 years with the Théâtre national populaire in Paris, from 1955-1966. Ivernel starred in over 50 films, memorable performances included his role in Alain Cavalier’s film Mise à sac, playing Edgar, a worker-foreman converted into a gangster. He was a theatre teacher until his suicide in 1999. He is buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre.

Christiane Lasquin
(COMEDIENNES)
11 Rue de l’Armée d’Orient, 75018 Paris, France
French actress and singer Christiane Lasquin (1929-1988) made her theatre debut at the Théâtre du Tertre (Rue Lepic) in Yves Jamiaque’s Habeas corpus. She caught the public’s attention in the Opéra des gueux at the Théâtre de Poche and was soon cast in the lead role of Pierre Barillet et Jean-Pierre Grédy’s La Plume. She would be a regular theatre performer into the 1980s. Her singing career was short-lived, a handful of EPs in the 1960s evolved into children’s music and spoken word records in the 1970s. She competed for the French selection for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961, losing out to winner Jean-Paul Mauric, with the song Printemps, avril carillonne.

Jacqueline Danno
(CHANTEURS ET CHANTEUSES)
10 Rue de l’Armée d’Orient, 75018 Paris, France
A pupil of the Petit Conservatoire de Mireille, Jacqueline Danno performed with François Deguelt at Bobino in 1960, then with the mighty Georges Brassens in 1962. She doubled Anouk Aimée’s vocals on the original song for the film Lola (1961). In 1965, she took part in the Rose d’or d’Antibes competition, which was won by Jean-Jacques Debout that year. As an actress she balanced her work in TV, cinema and theatre alongside each other. Throughout the 1960s she graced the Parisian stages of Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier (1963), Théâtre des Mathurins (1967), and Théâtre Montparnasse (1966).

Théâtre Montmartre Galabru / Conservatoire Maubel
4 Rue de l’Armée d’Orient, 75018 Paris, France
In 1850, Renée Maubel founded this theatre under the name of the Conservatoire Maubel. Many actors and singers studied here including Michel Paje (who won a first prize in dramatic art), Jean Weber, Pierre Brasseur and Michel Serrault. The theatre hosted the first performance of Guillaume Apollinaire’s play, Les mamelles de Tirésias, in 1917. In the 1970s, the theatre was abandoned. It is now the Théâtre Montmartre-Galabru.

Catherine Toth
(COMEDIENNES)
66 Rue Lepic, 75018 Paris, France
Catherine Toth and her husband André Reybaz, founded the Compagnie du Myrmidon, which received the first prize from the Young Companies in 1949 for Fastes d’enfer. Toth was a director, actor and costume designer, a woman who lived and breathed the greasepaint of the theatre. She directed plays in Paris at the Théâtre des Noctambules and Théâtre de Poche.

Jean Caya
(CHANSONNIERS / CHANTEURS ET CHANTEUSES)
49 Rue Lepic, 75018 Paris, France
Jean Caya was one of the many chansonniers who lived in Montmartre. Each had their quirks and unique patter. Caya was one of the rare chansonniers who could accompany himself on the accordion, and probably the only one who could produce a tune from a lawnmower. He was a regular at the Parisian cabarets of La Lune Rousse, Monico, Bobino and Coucou.

Pierre Jacob
(CHANSONNIERS)
53 Rue Lepic, 75018 Paris, France
On the wall outside 53 Rue Lepic is a plaque that reads “Pierre Jacob 1904-1979 Poet Chansonnier Author of the famous song “Rue Lepic” Lived in this house from 1939 to 1979”. The song was famously performed by Yves Montand and by Patachou, with Jacob’s words set to music by Michel Emer. When Jacob first arrived in Paris he wanted to join the hundreds of other artists who lived in Montmartre, but it was his brother Jean Germain who would go on to be a painter. He made his debut at the cabaret of La Vache Enragee in 1925, although it would be the Cabaret de la Lune Rousse that was his home from home. His wife, who lived with him at 53 Rue Lepic, was the singer Josia Saint Clair.

See an object that relates to Pierre Jacob HERE.

Bruno Cremer
(COMEDIENS)
72 Rue Lepic, 75018 Paris, France

Bruno Cremer was best known for his portrayal of Georges Simenon’s sleuth Jules Maigret, who he portrayed in 54 episodes of the TV series Maigret between 1991 and 2005. He rose to prominence on stage with acclaimed performances of William Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband and Jean Anouilh’s Poor Bitos and Becket. His cinema career took off in 1965 with the film La 317ème section, in which he was cast in the lead role by director Pierre Schoendoerffer.

Claire Gerard
(COMÉDIENNES)
67 Rue Lepic, 75018 Paris, France
Born in Belgium, theatre and cinema actress Claire Gerard starred in 100 films between 1932 and 1958. She made her theatre debut in L’Escalier de service in 1929 at the Théâtre Michel (8th arrondissement, Paris). She continued to appear in Parisian theatres for the next 30 years, including Théâtre Antoine, Théâtre des Arts, Théâtre de l’Athénée, Théâtre de l’Atelier, Théâtre de la Madeleine, Comédie des Champs-Élysées, Théâtre des Ambassadeurs, Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier, Théâtre de Paris, Théâtre La Bruyère, and Théâtre du Gymnase. She was married to the actor and director Fernand Bercher.