Le Père Noël est une ordure: 44 Years Later, What Happened to Bruno Moynot, the Actor Who Played Monsieur Preskovitch?

Everyone knows his face, but not necessarily his name: what has become of Bruno Moynot since "Le Père Noël est une ordure"?

He appears in all the films of the Splendid, becoming the immortal face of Mr. Preskovitch, bringing his dubitchous rolled under his armpits in Le Père Noël est une ordure. Do you know what has become of Bruno Moynot?

Remember, he also played the requester of "crêpe au suc" in Les Bronzés font du ski, and he received, along with Christian Clavier, Michel Blanc, Gérard Jugnot, Josiane Balasko, Thierry Lhermitte, and Marie-Anne Chazel, a César d'honneur for the entire career of the Splendid.

But what has he become?

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Today, Bruno Moynot manages the Splendid theaters in Saint-Martin and La Renaissance. His appearances on screen have been rare over the last 20 years. He was called back by Thierry Lhermitte to appear in Les Bronzés 3 in the role of a unionized hotel employee who is fired but continues to live there. Always in small roles, he has been spotted in Rien à déclarer by Dany Boon (2010), Trois fois rien, and Plus belle la vie (2022), while continuing his behind-the-scenes work in theater.

Does he regret not having known the fame of his Splendid companions? Not at all, as he confides in the book Le Splendid par Le Splendid:
"Of course, I have been less in the spotlight than the others because it was not my primary vocation, and I was very invested in managing the theater. In recent years, I have come out of the shadows and I live like a revival thanks to the longevity of the films; it’s amusing. I have a life that I like, despite the passing of time. I have only good memories; I was lucky, very lucky, to meet that group that changed my life forever and to lead the path I have had..."

His Encounter with the Splendid

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Bruno Moynot joined the Splendid in 1976-1977. At the time, the troupe was building its café-theater on rue des Lombards in Paris. Since 1974, he has been the partner of Josiane Balasko, who already knows the group well, and since he is skilled with his hands, she recommends him to help with the work. His help comes at a crucial time as Valérie Mairesse, a former member of the troupe, separates from Thierry Lhermitte and goes to try her luck in cinema. A spot is thus available.

Moynot recounts: "Josiane, always in love with freedom, did not want to join their SARL and buy Valérie’s shares. They offered them to me, and I took them. I started by taking care of the management and everything technical. Gradually, as we did everything together, I participated a bit in the writing, then I had small roles, and that’s how I became the seventh member of the Splendid."

"I Took Care of the Management"

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His first play with the troupe is Amours, coquillages et crustacés, then Bunny's Bar (1978) and Le Père Noël est une ordure (1979). Why was he seen so little in the spotlight? : "I could only make appearances on stage since I was in charge of the management of the show; I spent my time going down to the cellar and coming up on stage. I was an intermittent actor! It stayed that way..."

His film career (like that of Gérard Lanvin) began thanks to Coluche with L'Aile ou la cuisse (1976), and alongside the Splendid, he gets very small roles in films, especially in those of his colleagues (Vous n'aurez pas l'Alsace et la Lorraine by Coluche, Les Héros n'ont pas froid aux oreilles co-written by Gérard Jugnot).

He plays the famous requester of crêpe au sucre in Les Bronzés font du ski (1979), plays a doctor in Les Babas cool, and becomes, both in the play and in the film, the emblematic Mr. Preskovitch of Le Père Noël est une ordure (1982). We will see him the following year as a Gestapo agent alongside Ramirez (Gérard Jugnot) in Papy fait de la Résistance (1983), where in the play, he played the English pilot.

Although separated in the early 1980s, Moynot continues to appear in Josiane Balasko's films, whether it be Sac de nœuds (1985), Nuit d'ivresse (1986), Les Keufs (1987), or Ma vie est un enfer (1991). His management of two theaters leaves him little time for cinema, but as we have seen, it has never weighed on him.