Ticky Holgado

Joseph Holgado, known professionally as Ticky Holgado (24 June 1944 – 22 January 2004), was a French actor. Known for his short stature, distinctive face and heavy Southern accent, he was a frequent collaborator with filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Holgado’s original vocation was to be a musician. After playing in a band as a teenager, he found work in the French music industry and was eventually employed as a personal secretary by singer Claude François, then by Johnny Hallyday.

He became an actor in his mid-thirties and began appearing in small roles, mostly in comedy films. He gradually became a familiar face in French films.

In 1991, Holgado appeared in two films that allowed him to gain greater fame, Delicatessen by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, then Une époque formidable…, by Gérard Jugnot, where he played a part written especially for him.

During the years that followed, Holgado was very active as a character actor. He was nominated twice to the César Award for Best Supporting Actor, first for Une époque formidable…, then for French Twist (1994).

In September 2003, Holgado announced the remission of his lung cancer, which had considerably rarefied his appearances on the screen since 2000. On 5 January 2004, he had just begun work on a new film with Claude Lelouch, but he succumbed to cancer on 22 January 2004. He left a posthumous message, in the form of a document which appeared on his hospital bed after taking him to surgery to remove his fourth cancerous tumor. Holgado declared there: “It is necessary to tell to people that it’s absolutely necessary to stop smoking”.

Ticky Holgado was buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery (45th division).

Source: Article “Ticky Holgado” from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.