Simon Jacques Eugène Berryer, a renowned French humourist, writer, and comedian, was born on July 21, 1926. He was part of the team on Les Grosses Têtes, a popular radio and TV programme, and played the iconic role of Geriatrix in the films Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar and Astérix at the Olympic Games.
Berryer's early life was marked by his family's move to Nantes in 1936, where his father found work as a technician at Le Majestic cinema. At the age of eleven, he founded a comedy group called "Sim-Art" and, at fourteen, won his first award in a funny face competition.
In 1941, his parents took over a cinema in Ancenis, and the family moved there. Sim continued his studies and worked as a projectionist in the family business. After his parents stopped working at the cinema, Sim stayed in Rennes as a projectionist and practiced his comedy, alone, after performances.
He won a contract as a humorous singer and was spotted by Étienne Perrin, with whom he performed a comic clown act. He toured as a comic song act in Paris cabaret clubs, often in drag, and worked at the Crazy Horse Saloon as a dresser.
In the 1960s, he was part of Jean Nohain's team producing animated children's television, and performed in a Guy Lux production. In the 1970s, he was part of many televised sketch shows, performed comic sketches and songs with Édouard Caillau, and was a regular performer in short comic sketches on Guy Lux's programmes.
Berryer's career spanned many decades, and he remained a beloved figure in French entertainment until his passing on September 6, 2009.
