Guy Lux

Guy Maurice Lux (21 June 1919 – 13 June 2003) was a French TV host and producer best known for his 1961 creation of the game show Intervilles and its numerous spinoffs.^[1] During his 40 year career, he produced, directed, hosted, and wrote more than 40 television shows.^[2]

Guy Lux
Born	Guy Maurice Lux (1919-06-21)21 June 1919 Paris, France
Died	13 June 2003(2003-06-13) (aged 83) Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Resting place	Saint-Gratien Cemetery in Val-d'Oise
Spouse(s)	Paulette Lisle, 1942–1995 (her death)
Partner(s)	Vonny (extramarital) Muriel Montossey (extramarital)
Children	6 (2 deceased)
Career
Show	Intervilles
Network	RTF, ORTF, FR3, TF1
Show	Top Club
Network	Antenne 2
Style	Television host Television producer
Country	France

Biography

Lux was born Guy Maurice Lux on 21 June 1919 in Paris, France, and had Alsatian ancestry.^[1][2][3][4] He attended Lycée Arago for high school^{[citation needed]} then École Estienne for university. He studied fine arts and applied arts and studied to be a lyricist.^[5][6][4] In 1939, he joined the war effort as an ambulance driver but was taken prisoner by enemy troops.^[4][3] He escaped and joined the French Resistance and later the Allied troops.^[4][3][7] After the war, he was awarded the Escapees' Medal and a Croix de Guerre.^[3][7]

Due in part to the economic conditions in post-war France, Lux had difficulty finding buyers for his songs.^[6][8][5][3] In the 1940s, he ran a hardware store in Asnières-sur-Seine, where he would set up games for his customers to play, especially during the Tour de France.^[5] He did not start working in media until 1952.^[3]

Television career

Lux hosted his first game show, Contact, in 1960. This show would later become La roue tourne, which he hosted alongside Jean-Francois Chiappe and Marina Gray in 1960-1964.^[5][3] Another significant game show he hosted was Intervilles in 1962-1964, 1970-1971, 1973, and 1985-1991, almost the entire time with Léon Zitrone, Simone Garnier, and Claude Savarit. This show was based on the Italian programme Campanile sera and later inspired the British show It's a Knockout.^[4][2][3] He created and hosted the spinoffs Jeux sans frontières (all-Europe competition), Interneige (continuation of Jeux sans frontières), Intercontinents (international competition), Interglace (winter competitions), and Interchallenges.^[4][2][5][9] He also hosted Ring Parade and its sequel Système 2 and the popular variety show Le Schmilblick,^[9][6][2][5] which popularized the word schmilblick, similar to the English thingamajig.^{[citation needed]} He created and produced the shows La Classe, La Une est à vous, Succès fous, Capitale d'un soir, and L'Or à l'appel as well.^[5][3][9]

Though he mainly worked with television, he appeared, oftentimes as a fictionalized version of himself, in several films, including Clémentine chérie (1964), Bang Bang (1967), Les fous du stade (1972), Comme sur des roulettes (1977), and Le Bourreau des cœurs (1983).^[5] He also wrote and composed the song "A la queue leu leu" which was sung by André Bézu, and recorded a comedy song called "Le Tango d'Intervilles" with co-host Léon Zitrone.^[5][10] In 2021, Lux and Zitrone were featured in the documentary Les Duos mythiques de la television as one of France's legendary duos.^[11][12] He wrote and directed the comedy film Drôles de zèbres in 1977, starring Coluche, and in 1980 created his own production company, People Production.^[5]

He retired from his television career in 1993, due largely to his age and the new talent available elsewhere.^[5][13]

Personal life

Lux was known to enjoy betting on horses, so much so that there is now a race called Prix Guy Lux et Léon Zitrone held in Paris.^[14][15][3] Sophie Darel, with whom he worked for 15 years on a number of shows, described him as "very anxious" and angry because of it, though she still had affection for him since his violent outbursts lasted only briefly.^[13][16][17] In 1994, Lux started Pas d'enfants sans vacances (English: No child without vacation), which takes children from families who cannot afford vacations over the summer holidays to the beach and/or countryside.^{[18][5][3][19]}

Lux married Paulette Lisle in 1942 and the couple had two children: Christiane (1942-1964) and Michel (1943-present).^[4] Christiane died in a car accident in 1964 and Lux and his wife raised her 3-month old son, Jean-Christophe Lauduique, in her place.^[4] Jean-Christophe and actress Ariane Séguillon are parents to Dorian Lauduique of the French DJ duo Ofenbach.^[20][21] Jean-Christophe released music under the name Christophe Jenac in the 1980s.^[4]

Lux had at least two extramarital affairs during his marriage to Paulette, resulting in four illegitimate children, three of which he never publicly acknowledged.^[21][4] Pierre, mothered by actress and TV host Vonny.^[21][4] He had another daughter, Laura-Charlotte, with actress Muriel Montossey. This was revealed following Laura-Charlotte's death on 26 May 1993 at 16 months old, when her death certificate, which included Lux's name, was published in newspapers and tabloids across France.^[22][21]

Lux died on 13 June 2003 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. He is buried in Saint-Gratien Cemetery in Val-d'Oise alongside his wife Paulette and daughter Christiane.^[4][14]

Selected filmography

Television

Year	Title	Show type	Role(s)	Episodes	Ref
1965–1968, 1979–1981	Le palmarès des chansons	Music competition	Self, producer	65	[6][23]
1969	Le schmilblic	Game show	Host	2	[9]
1971	Les étoiles de la chanson	Music competition	Host, executive producer	11	[23]
1962–1971	Intervilles	Game show	Host, creator, writer, producer	21	[5]
1971–1973	Cadet Rousselle	Variety show	Host, producer	28	[3]
1974	Domino	Music	Host, producer	17	[23]
	French CanCan		Host, producer	8	[13]
1975–1976	Samedi est à vous	Music competition	Presenter, producer		[23][24]
	Ring Parade	Music competition	Host, producer	64	[9]
	Système 2	Music competition	Host, producer	64	[9][23]
1977	Un taxi en or	Variety show, soap opera	Host, creator		[23]
1978–1981	Top Club	Music competition	Host, producer	88	[25]
1965–1982	Jeux sans frontières	Game show	Host, creator, writer	56	[4][5]
1983–1985	Cadence 3	Variety show	Host, writer (1 ep), producer	50	[23]
1987	La classe	Variety show	Producer	45	[9][23]
1989	La une est à vous	Competition	Creator, writer, songwriter, producer	1	[5][24]
1992	Double jeu	Talk show	Self	1	[14]

Film

Year	Title	Role(s)	Notes	Ref
1964	Clémentine chérie	Self		[5]
1967	Bang Bang	Guy Descartes, Sheila's uncle		[5]
1972	Les fous du stade	Self		[5]
1977	Drôles de zèbres	Self (uncredited), director, writer		[5]
	La Bastille en chantant	Host, producer	TV special	[23]
	Comme sur des roulettes	Guy Lux		[5]
1980	Sur son 31	Self, producer	TV special	[26]
1983	Le Bourreau des cœurs	Guy Lux		[5]
1996	L'Or à l'appel	Writer		[5]