Pierre Tchernia

Born in Paris as Pierre Tcherniakowski, he was the youngest of four children. His father, a Ukrainian immigrant, was an engineer and his mother a seamstress. He grew up in Courbevoie. In 1940, at age 12, he saw John Ford's Western Stagecoach and was inspired to work in cinema. After graduation, he enrolled in a film and photography technical school, and then joined the Institute for Advanced Cinematographic Studies.

He was part of the creation of the first televised news in France in 1949 and was an early French news presenter. In 1955 he became a producer of animation (with a heavy influence from the early animation of Walt Disney). For many years he hosted a television game show of movie trivia, Monsieur Cinéma (in French). He was also host or presenter for various French talk, variety, quiz and music shows over the years such as La Clé des champs. Tchernia was the regular French commentator in the Eurovision Song Contest on 14 occasions from 1958 until 1974.

On 14 July 2011, he became Commandeur of the Legion of Honor.

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