Vania Vilers was born Jean Frédéric Winterhalter and came from Neuchâtel. For Yves Robert, in 1977, he played the grey-templed seducer, Danielle Delorme's lover and Jean Rochefort's rival: it was by this role that the public knew him for thirty years, often without knowing his name. Three elements are carved: the name he chose for himself, and two dates. Nothing of the trade, nothing of his civil name, nothing of Switzerland.
The story
In 1977, in Yves Robert's Nous irons tous au paradis, Vania Vilers played the seducer with greying temples: the lover of Danièle Delorme, the rival of Jean Rochefort, the deceived husband of the group of friends. It was the role by which audiences knew him for thirty years, often without knowing his name.
Born at Neuchâtel, in Switzerland, on 12 June 1938, Jean Frédéric Winterhalter took the stage name Vania Vilers. He also acted beside Pierre Brasseur and Jacques Debary in an episode of Les Cinq Dernières Minutes.
He died in 2009. On the stone in Division 11, three elements: “Vania VILERS, 1938-2009.” Neither trade, nor birth name, nor Switzerland — only the name he chose for himself.
The grave
An inscription reduced to the stage name: “Vania VILERS, 1938-2009.” Neither the trade, nor the civil name — Jean Frédéric Winterhalter —, nor the Switzerland where he was born. Three elements for an actor whom the public recognised without always knowing his name, the grey-templed seducer of a film the whole of France saw.
On site, do not miss
An inscription of three elements: “Vania VILERS, 1938-2009.” The stage name alone, with no trade or civil name.
Visitors' questions
Where is Vania Vilers's grave?
In Division 11, chemin Denon, first row, in the Division of Chopin, near the main entrance. The inscription runs to three elements: “Vania VILERS, 1938-2009”, with no trade named and not the name he was born with.
Michel PetruccianiWhat is his best-known part?
The grey-templed seducer of Nous irons tous au paradis (1977), by Yves Robert: the lover of Danielle Delorme and the rival of Jean Rochefort, the deceived husband of the gang.
Claude BrasseurWhat was his real name?
Jean Frédéric Winterhalter. Born at Neuchâtel, in Switzerland, on 12 June 1938, he took the stage name Vania Vilers to become an actor — and the stone carries that name alone, without the one he was born with and without his trade.
Philippe KhorsandDid he act with Pierre Brasseur?
He did, in an episode of Les Cinq Dernières Minutes, alongside Pierre Brasseur and Jacques Debary. Brasseur, who died in 1972, lies at Père-Lachaise too, in Division 59, in the same grave as his son Claude.
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