Michel Leeb celebrates his 75th birthday on April 23. With a career that spans 45 years, the comedian known for his (sometimes controversial) impersonations is also a great heritage advocate. Who are Beatrice, his wife of 40 years, and their 3 (famous) children: Fanny, Elsa and Tom?

Born in Cologne in Germany on April 23, 1947, Michel Leeb grows in Normandy , with her younger sister Réjane, raised by their mother Mafalda, a model of Italian origin and their father Claude Leeb, a metallurgical engineer of German origin. A key figure on the French comic scene for 45 years, Michel Leeb was not destined for such a career. Before launching, he spends a master's degree in Philosophy at the Sorbonne, a discipline he taught for a year and a half.

Michel Leeb, troublemaker and king of imitation

Driven by a French teacher who quickly spotted his comic talent when the young Michel Leeb made his boarding school friends laugh at the Jesuits in Evreux, then at the Lycée Saint-Gabriel in Bagneux, he quickly became successful in the 1980s .

In advertisements that have become cult like the one for Baygon's insecticide then on the Olympia stage, Michel Leeb quickly became one of the most adored comedians in France. Endowed with a very expressive face, he excels in imitations, such as those, tasty, of animals in front of an audience of hilarious children or on how punctuation marks could be verbalized orally.

Michel Leeb, from caricature to polemic

Other sketches like the African or the Chinese Tourist have become controversial subjects. In 2019, guest of France Inter, Michel Leeb did his mea culpa on his sketch supposed to represent an 'African': ' I'm terribly sorry but the fact of taking the accent is not an incitement but a caricature. Cartooning is part of our culture. There was no incitement to racial hatred. I agree, I could have caused harm and I deeply regret having been able to shock and cause pain .'

Who are Béatrice, his wife of 40 years, and their 3 child stars: Fanny, Elsa and Tom?

In a relationship with journalist Béatrice Malicet since the 1980s, Michel Leeb married the latter late, in June 2000. Together , they had three children: Fanny (born 1986), singer who participated in the second season of The Voice , Elsa (born 1988) who is an actress and Tom (born in 1990) that we could appreciate in the series Under the sun of Saint-Tropez and in the movies Rotten Spoiled with Gérard Jugnot, Artus and Camille Lou and 8 Humanity Street of Dany Boon (but Tom Leeb threw in the towel when he was to represent France at Eurovision in 2021).

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Michel Leeb's fight for the heritage of Oppède

In love with the Vaucluse where he resides part of the year, Michel Leeb fell in love with the village of Oppède . And more particularly for the Romanesque collegiate church probably dating from the 10th or 11th century, Notre-Dame d'Alidon, whose restoration he has supported for more than 27 years. ' We must invest in beautiful things! ', explained the artist to France info .

It is with the mayor of the village Albert Calvo, director of the association Oppede Heritage , that Michel Leeb could believe l'Oppède Festival , an annual event hosting a three-day series of concerts and shows, the profits of which are used to restore the magnificent building... It is in the old stones that we do the best...?

Source journaldesfemmes.fr