Philippe Léotard

During the time I was first living in France, my agent in Los Angeles suggested I produce a TV pilot that she might sell in the U.S.--a travelogue or cooking show, perhaps. Neither of these were of interest to me, but it did intrigue me to combine the two concepts and include a French actor to host the show. I approached Philippe Léotard who agreed. I then went to Alain Bernardin who owned the Crazy Horse Saloon on the Avenue Georges V and asked if I could borrow one of his Crazy Horse showgirls to appear in the production as Philippe's assistant. I had recently acquired the U.S. cable TV rights to the Crazy Horse Saloon and Alain was very happy to oblige.

I tend to write dialogue as the crew is setting up the lighting for a scene and this is what I did for Philippe. The only problem was that he didn't speak English, so he would have to learn the text phonetically. He rehearsed with my assistant and was word perfect. It was a fun shoot using Notre Dame, l'Arc de Triomphe, la Place du Tertre and La Mère Catherine as backdrop for a very whimsical look at cooking in the French style. Renault provided a car and Rolex a gold Day-Date for Philippe to use on camera. The result was The French Chef.

As you might well imagine, the girl from the Crazy Horse Saloon stole the show!