Trivia

A master of physical slapstick comedy, he has been compared to Buster Keaton and Max Linder and was greatly influenced by Jacques Tati.

In the early 1950s, his comedy act in the Paris music halls caught the attention of actor-director Jacques Tati,who hired him to help write gags for My Uncle (1958). He was Tati's assistant director on the shoot, and also designed the movie poster.

From early youth Etaix acquired multifaceted skills, having studied the violin and piano, dancing and gymnastics, taught himself to play xylophone, accordion, saxophone, mandolin, trumpet and concertina, as well as learning to become a magician.

Retrospective at the 15th Angers European First Film Festival, France. (2003)

Produced his own clown shows upon leaving school and began his career in films as an assistant director following a year of military service in 1949. Worked in Paris from 1953 as an illustrator, cartoonist and cabaret performer.

Partnered Nino the Clown briefly in the early 1960's.

He was a clown, actor, and film director who won an Oscar for his short film Happy Anniversary (1962).