Marc Camoletti was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

 best known for his classic farce

Farce

In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...

 Boeing-Boeing.

Camoletti was born a French citizen in Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, though his family had Italian

Italian people

The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...

 origins. His theatrical career began in 1958 when three of his plays were presented simultaneously in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, the first, La Bonne Anna, running for 1300 performances and going on to play throughout the world.

Boeing-Boeing (1962) was an even greater success, and remains Camoletti's signature hit. The original London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 production, in an adaptation by Beverley Cross

Beverley Cross

Beverley Cross was an English playwright, librettist and screenwriter.Born in London into a theatrical family, Cross started off by writing children's plays in the 1950s. He achieved instant success with his first play One More River, which dealt with a mutiny in which a crew puts its first...

, opened at the Apollo Theatre

Apollo Theatre

The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield, and the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street, its doors opened on 21 February 1901 with the American...

, transferred to the Duchess

Duchess Theatre

The Duchess Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, London, located in Catherine Street, near Aldwych.The theatre opened on 25 November 1929 and is one of the smallest 'proscenium arched' West End theatres. It has 479 seats on two levels....

, and ran for seven years, racking up more than 2,000 performances.

A later play, Don't Dress for Dinner

Don't Dress for Dinner

Don't Dress for Dinner is a two-act play by French playwright Marc Camoletti. It's a sequel to Camoletti's other play Boeing Boeing. The play ran in Paris for a little more than two years under the name Pyjamas Pour Six, and also ran in London starring Simon Cadell and Su Pollard.- Characters...

, also ran for seven years in London, again transferring from the Apollo to the Duchess.

Camoletti's plays have been performed in numerous languages in 55 countries. In Paris alone, 18 of his plays have totalled around 20,000 performances in all. Ten of his plays have also been shown on television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

, the most recent being Sexe et Jalousie.

Camoletti was an Associate of the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts

Société Nationale des Beaux Arts

Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts was the term under which two groups of French artists united, the first for some exhibitions in the early 1860s, the second since 1890 for annual exhibitions....

. He was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur

Légion d'honneur

The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

, one of France's highest honours. He died in Deauville

Deauville

Deauville is a commune in the Calvados département in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.With its racecourse, harbour, international film festival, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino and sumptuous hotels, Deauville is regarded as the "queen of the Norman beaches" and...

 on the Normandy

Normandy

Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

 coast in 2003.

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