The animator and producer Thierry Ardisson, PAF star nicknamed “The man in black”, died Monday at 76 years in Paris following liver cancer. This is what his wife and children announced in a statement to AFP.
“Thierry left as he lived. As a courageous and free man. With his children and mine, we were united around him. Until his last breath,” wrote his wife, TF1 journalist Audrey Crespo-Mara.
Born January 6, 1949 in Bourganeuf (near Limoges), Thierry Ardisson made his weapons in advertising with slogans spent in posterity, before going on the small screen. He jostled the cathodic landscape from the 1980s, to the point of establishing himself as one of his most sassy figures, with his successful evening talk shows.
The whole political and cultural-Paris has gone to its programs, among which “midnight baths”, presented from the nightclub of the Bains Showers in Paris, “Black Glasses for White Nights” at the legendary Palace and “Right Rive / Rive Gauche”, the first daily TV Cultural Magazine in France.
Not just friends
He also animated “Everyone talks about it”, a weekly on France 2 (1998-2006) alongside his acolyte Laurent Baffie, then “Hi Terriens” (2006-2018) on Canal+ then C8. All black dressed and armed with an eternal smile, the host, who liked to transgress and disarray his guests, had a sense of formula. Some rituals, such as his “goods” or “Magneto, Serge!”, Remain inseparable from his character.
In 2020, it was the consecration with “Arditube”, a YouTube channel launched by the National Audiovisual Institute (INA) and dedicated to the impressive television heritage – 35 programs – of an animator with openly royalist convictions, little known for his modesty, but also hard hard worker.
It was not just friends in the world: for Bernard Pivot, he was “so megalo that he believes he had invented vulgarity on television”. The TV man was also a press boss, made radio, produced series and films, and wrote several books including “The man in black”, published in May. Emmanuel Macron had given him the Legion of Honor in early 2024.
Married three times, Thierry Ardisson had three children with the musician Béatrice Loustalan. He shared the life of the journalist and presenter of TF1 Audrey Crespo-Mara, whom he had married in 2014.
This article was published automatically. Sources: ATS / AFP
