This May 12, 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Jacqueline Maillan. If we remember the facetious interpreter of Suzanne in 'Potiche' for her sense of humor, we know less about her childhood complexes, her avant-garde marriage or her bisexuality. Secrets of the Boulevard Theater Star.

It's been 30 years since Jacqueline Maillan is dead. On May 12, 1992, the actress passed away at the age of 69, following internal bleeding in her apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. She had to undergo major cardiovascular surgery the day after. The queen of the comic register in France, often described as the female counterpart of Louis de Funès, forever marked the history of French comics.

Jacqueline Maillan : ses complexes

Born January 11, 1923 in Paray-le-Monial, Jacqueline Maillan is raised by a father engineer of the Ponts et Chaussées , and an mother housewife , in a bourgeois family. She was born after her two sisters, Christiane and Suzanne, while her parents hoped to give birth to a son. Is the disappointment of its parents felt on a daily basis? Still, the little Jacqueline , a tomboy, is a complexed child.

Jacqueline Maillan, funny even in tragedies

Despite a complicated schooling, this real teaser is particularly appreciated of his teachers and classmates.

It prepares a capacity in law, a sort of law degree, but ended up taking childcare courses before becoming a secretary to a pharmacist. But Jacqueline Maillan cannot ignore her true passion, the theater . It must be said that the young woman is renowned for her humor and her ability to make people laugh… in any situation. In particular, she manages to trigger the laughter of her teacher, the actor René Simon, by playing a tragedy of Racine .

Jacqueline Maillan: her marriage to Michel Emer

In the 1950s, the composer Michel Emer regularly went to the actress's shows. Under the spell, he marriage proposal . Jacqueline Maillan hesitates, but ends up accepting. Two days after the death of his father , she said 'yes' to him and became the stepmother of Michel Emer's two children, Laurence and Jacques.

Star of the boulevard theater, Jacqueline Maillan is also known to viewers for her multiple appearances on television, notably in the show The Big Children , in the late 1960s.

With Bourvil , two months before the death of the actor, she recorded in 1970 two song parodies of Serge Gainsbourg , Poor Lola , and I don't love you either. A shock duo!

Jacqueline Maillan: her bisexuality

Jacqueline Maillan caches a lourd secret, they are sexually oriented. 'Jacqueline had somewhere a bisexuality , it was something that posed a fundamental problem for him. At the time, it was very difficult to manage “, remembered her friend Marion Sarraut, in the show One Day, One Destiny.

Michel Emer, her husband, is aware of his wife's sexual orientation . And he is the only one. Both form a free couple before the time '. He died in 1984, without ever revealing his wife's secret...

With hindsight, journalist France Nespo understands why Jacqueline Maillan was particularly uncomfortable during their interview. When the journalist described the year 1975 as ' international women's year ', the actress had a hard time hiding her embarrassment. ' women make me laugh “, she had dropped, pretending not to take interest in this conversation.

Later, in One Day, One Destiny , France Nespo deciphered this moment: ' She must have thought I knew her life secret , of his love of women or at any rate of a woman . But I didn't know it at the time (...) In her silences, I feel her embarrassment, that she is trying to find a way to lie to me '.

Jacqueline Maillan, dead on stage (or almost)

In May 1992, just before her death, she appeared on stage for the last time in Cake , a monologue written for her by Pierre Palmade. She died on May 12, following a internal bleeding , and is buried at Parisian cemetery of Bagneux , in the Hauts-de-Seine.

Source journaldesfemmes.fr