Le Plus Grand Français

Le Plus Grand Français de tous les temps (The Greatest Frenchman of all Time) was a France 2 show of early 2005, based on an original series of Great Britons on the BBC. The show asked the French viewers who they thought was the Greatest Frenchman or Frenchwoman. It was presented by Michel Drucker and Thierry Ardisson, and the final episode was broadcast at the French Senate.

The winner was the former president and leader of the Free French movement, Charles de Gaulle.

The show was criticized by some historians in that it focused only on personalities of recent French history. Key figures of French history who contributed to the founding of the French nation, such as the national heroine Joan of Arc, the kings Philip Augustus, Saint Louis, and Louis XIV or French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte were largely ignored.

The Greatest Frenchmen of All Time

1. General Charles de Gaulle – Political leader, French President, poet, philanthropist, and statesman
2. Louis Pasteur – Scientist
3. Abbé Pierre – Priest and humanitarian
4. Marie Skłodowska Curie – Scientist
5. Coluche – Comic and Humanitarian
6. Victor Hugo – Author, poet and playwright
7. Bourvil - Actor and comic
8. Molière – Playwright
9. Jacques-Yves Cousteau – Oceanologist
10. Édith Piaf - Singer
11. Marcel Pagnol - Author and Filmmaker
12. Georges Brassens - Singer and songwriter
13. Fernandel - Actor and comic
14. Jean de la Fontaine - Poet and fabulist
15. Jules Verne – Science fiction author
16. Napoleon Bonaparte – Military, political leader and Emperor
17. Louis de Funès - Actor and comic
18. Jean Gabin - Actor
19. Daniel Balavoine - Singer, songwriter and musician
20. Serge Gainsbourg - Singer and songwriter
21. Zinedine Zidane - Footballer
22. Charlemagne – Middle Ages emperor
23. Lino Ventura - Actor
24. François Mitterrand – French President
25. Gustave Eiffel – Architect
26. Émile Zola - Author
27. Sœur Emmanuelle - Nun and humanitarian
28. Jean Moulin - Leader of French resistance to the occupying Nazis in France during World War II
29. Charles Aznavour - Singer, songwriter and actor
30. Yves Montand - Actor and singer
31. Jeanne d’Arc – Military leader, saint
32. Général Leclerc - Military leader
33. Voltaire – Political author
34. Johnny Hallyday - Singer
35. Antoine de Saint Exupéry - Aviator, author and poet
36. Claude Francois - Singer
37. Christian Cabrol - Cardiologist and surgeon
38. Jean-Paul Belmondo - Actor
39. Jules Ferry - Politician
40. Louis Lumière - Cinema inventor
41. Michel Platini - Footballer
42. Jacques Chirac – French President and Prime Minister
43. Charles Trenet - Singer and songwriter
44. Georges Pompidou – French President
45. Michel Sardou - Singer
46. Simone Signoret - Actress
47. Haroun Tazieff - Vulcanologist
48. Jacques Prévert - Poet
49. Éric Tabarly - Sailor
50. Louis XIV – French King
51. David Douillet - Judoka
52. Henri Salvador - Singer and comic
53. Jean-Jacques Goldman - Singer, songwriter and musician
54. Jean Jaurès - Politician
55. Jean Marais - Actor and comedian
56. Yannick Noah - Tennis player
57. Albert Camus – Author and philosopher
58. Dalida - Singer
59. Léon Zitrone - Journalist
60. Nicolas Hulot - Journalist
61. Simone Veil - Politician
62. Alain Delon - Actor
63. Patrick Poivre d'Arvor - Journalist
64. Aimé Jacquet - Footballer
65. Francis Cabrel - Singer and songwriter
66. Brigitte Bardot - Actress
67. Guy de Maupassant - Author
68. Alexandre Dumas, père – Author and playwright
69. Honoré de Balzac – Author
70. Paul Verlaine - Poet
71. Jean-Jacques Rousseau – Political author
72. Maximilien de Robespierre – Political leader
73. Renaud - Singer and Songwriter
74. Bernard Kouchner - Politician and humanitarian
75. Claude Monet – Artist
76. Michel Serrault - Actor
77. Pierre-Auguste Renoir – Artist
78. Michel Drucker - Journalist
79. Raimu - Actor and Comedian
80. Vercingetorix - Gallic leader
81. Raymond Poulidor - Racing cyclist
82. Charles Baudelaire – Poet
83. Pierre Corneille - Playwright
84. Arthur Rimbaud - Poet
85. Georges Clemenceau – Political leader, Prime Minister, and journalist
86. Gilbert Bécaud - Singer, songwriter and musician
87. José Bové - Syndicalist
88. Jean Ferrat - Singer and songwriter
89. Lionel Jospin - Politician and French Prime Minister
90. Jean Cocteau - Dramatist, poet, playwright and filmmaker
91. Luc Besson - Filmmaker
92. Tino Rossi - Singer
93. Pierre de Coubertin - Pedagogue and founder of the modern Olympic Games.
94. Jean Renoir – Film director
95. Gérard Philipe - Actor and comedian
96. Jean-Paul Sartre – Author
97. Catherine Deneuve - Actress
98. Serge Reggiani - Actor, singer and comedian
99. Gérard Depardieu - Actor
100. Françoise Dolto - Psychoanalyst

See also

• France portal