French musician and actor Jean Sarrus, 79, died on Feb. 19. Sarrus was a bass guitar player and vocalist for Les Charlots, a popular band from the 1960s-80s; they can best be described as the French Monkees (“Charlot,” thanks to Charlie Chaplin, is synonymous with clowns or comics). The group appeared in numerous films, including Les Charlots font l'Espagne, Stadium Nuts, Les Quatre Charlots Mousquetaires, Les Charlots Contre Dracula, and Le Retour des Charlots. On his own, Sarrus also acted in the TV series Elisa Top Model and the films This Could Be the Last Time and Les Vieux Fourneaux 2: Bons pour l'Asile (his last project, in 2022). Sarrus explained how the group broke into films: Producer Michel Ardan “says to us: ‘Here, I have three children, I saw you on TV the other night with them, and you made them laugh. So, if you've made my children laugh, I think you need to be able to make all the kids in France laugh. So my question is simple: Do you want to make movies?’ And we said in one voice, ‘Wait, I'm thinking.’”
