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May 2010
text Linda, webmaster
My very dear Le Gerfaut fans, I had been
invited by Magali, the webmaster of the 'Official
Homepage of Laurent le Doyen' to attend
their fan meeting in May 2010 and the launching of the
new founded fan club of Laurent le Doyen! With
such a prominent 'Member of honor' none
other than 'Juliette Benzoni' herself ! When
the Author had learned through Frédérique
and Hélène (who could not
attend), she
enthusiastically
asked to be registered as
a fan club member!
With great pleasure, I had accepted to attend
the fan meeting, and to become also a member
of the club. Smiling to myself, hearing voices
who might say: « and what is a Catherine de Montsalvy fan doing there? To me, that
seemed no problem, since I love all Novels by
our favourite author Juliette Benzoni. It
was at the same time, the opportunity to make new
friends, and meeting for the first time Magali, webmaster like me and of course, without doubt, the
very great pleasure to meet the leading actor
of that wonderful TV-Series 'Le Gerfaut'
Laurent le Doyen in person! Travelling
to France, to see again Frédérique of the
Juliette Benzoni official website, with whom
I share a special friendship.
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The date was set and I looked forward to
this surely amazing weekend at Versailles, the home
of some exciting scenes of the the four
Novels and television series 'Le Gerfaut'directed
by
Dame Marion Sarraut in 1987. Alas, Magali, was not able to
join us at the last
moment! For months she had organized
everything, so that the fans of 'Laurent le
Doyen' would be able to share an
unforgettable day together. We all felt
with her and were able to understand
her great sadness, not to be there and enjoy
the company of fans and that of Laurent le
Doyen.
Magali, knowing how much I love
writing a report, had contacted me, if I
would be so kind and take her job of writing
a summary of the day, since she could not be
there. Of course I agreed and so did Frédérique to
support with photos and later with some creations.
We met on Saturday 8 May
at ten o'clock at the Hotel Angleterre in
Versailles.
The 'weather fairy' had decided to be nice to
the 'Le Gerfaut fans' and soon our little
group consisting of Emmanuelle, her husband Jean-Marc, Sophie our Versailles
expert, Frédérique and myself walked to the gate of
'Louis XIV, the Sun King's,' world famous 'Castle
of Versailles'.
Excited, with
meaningful looks at each other, we stood in
line and entered this historical place. I do
not know how it is for my friends, but I am
always in awe and seem to be transported
into another time period when I am visiting
such historic places. Imagining
myself to be there, at the time when the
most famous of all the French Kings lived at
Versailles - or seeing and hearing with my inner eye, the
mob coming and tearing down the gates of the
castle. In the hope to catch poor 'Queen
Marie-Antoinette' and her lovable and
underestimated
husband King Louis XVI. Who happened to be
Juliette's favourite of the French Kings as
we learn from many articles.
But enough of
dreaming, once inside, we met Romy,
the president of the
brand new fanclub, a very faithful
'Le Gerfaut fan', together with
her sweet grandaughter Anaïs. Under
Sophie's conduct, we then visited the Gardens
of Versailles, halting many times for a
photo-shooting.
We enjoyed the sun, being spoiled by lovely
Emmanuelle, who had brought home-baked
cookies for us. Merci beaucoup Manue, what a
grandiose idea and very much appreciataed by
all of us! We walked on and soon it was
time to take lunch in one of the restaurants,
while we got to know each other better and shared
anecdotes about 'Le Gerfaut'. Emmanuelle, in the absent of
Magali, taking her role as
'lady-in-charge', looked from time to time discreetly
at her watch! We felt how our pulse was beating faster - soon we would meet in
person the
Chevalier Gilles de Tournemine, the
reason why we all had joined this fanclub!
There remained still time to buy some souvenirs,
(... and of course the attentive
photographer spotted one of Juliette
Benzoni's Novel's 'La
Chambre du Roi' in the souvenir shop..!
)
and the tension was growing! We visited the
Grand
Trianon, admired the beautiful furnished
rooms and felt like in 'Back to the Future'
- looking at
Emmanuelle, who smiled at us and said: He is
on his way... he is coming with the little train...
...and voilà, walking towards us,
a smile on his face, a charming,
and very good looking Laurent le
Doyen, our "Star" of the day. Some of us
had already had the great pleasure to meet
Gilles/Laurent in person. I, who
pretented to be so cool, was now also caught
up by the excitement to meet the famous 'Le Gerfaut' in person ;-)
What is my opinion
after he introduced himself to me? Only one
sentence: « cher Laurent, you can count the
'Catherine de Montsalvy fan' now also to
your very faithful admirers » ;-) !
Laurent joined us to visit the 'le Petit Trianon' following the traces of
'Le Gerfaut' shared jokes with us, and had a lovely word for
everyone. He patiently stopped whenever we
wanted him for a
photo-shooting, for
which we 'shamelessly' took
advantage of! He surprised Frédérique and me,
as he sang to us, a few notes of a
terrific version of 'I love Paris in the
Springtime'...! Allow me to say a few words
about
Laurent le Doyen.
In my humble opinion,
a very attractive, charming and adorable man- showing his pleasure that we are
his fans and that we loved his performance
as 'Gilles de Tournemine'. Sharing little
anectotes with us - helping us to find the
shooting places, which Magali, to entertain
us, had given us as a 'treasure-hunting-mission'... Yes Magali, we found everything, thanks to
Gilles/Laurent ;-) - halted at the place where
'Gilles' had his duell with 'Ambassador
Caramanico', witnessed by
and Admiral John Paul Jones.
We never got tired to admire all the beauty
of the 'Gardens at Versailles'. There was the
'Le Hameau'
Queen Marie-Antoinette's refuge, together
with the leading star of 'Le Gerfaut' extremely popular years
ago, and never forgotten by the fans, who had
either watched Dame Marion Sarraut's TV-series
in 1987 or
read Juliette Benzoni's book series
Le Gerfaut des Brumes back in 1976 -
1981.
Dear
friends, I have no idea how many kilometres
we made on foot...! We laughed and joked
about it, but would never have admitted then
and there that we would pay the toll later
on, for all this sauntering in one of the
most beautiful places on earth while we not
all wore appropriate shoes ;-) Our hero had
an excellent idea (thanks Laurent for your
superb idea ;-) and showed us a short-cut...
I see, "Le Gerfaut" knew his way around at
Versailles... of course as the private bodyguard of
'Queen Marie-Antoinette', he definitely
recognized the area again...
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We decided to enjoy a ride back to the entry
of the Palace of Versailles with the
little train, and left the background for
some of the shooting places of Le Gerfaut
behind us with a sigh.... At that precise moment
we climbed onto the train, the sun went for a
little rest and heaven sent the first raindrops
down to us. But what were a few drops of
rain, compared to this amazing afternoon
together with the guest of honour?
We made a
last stop, took some more photos -
while I
noticed what an observant eye Laurent le
Doyen had. As some of you know, he is not
only an excellent actor, but also a painter
and photographer - and so
his eyes did not miss the unique moment, to
take some magnificent photos before we went out:
We hurried to the last stop of our fan club meeting - inviting Laurent to
join us in the car, while the sky had now
opened and sent us showers.
At the
restaurant still in Versailles, - Armelle, another fan club member, was
waiting for us. She had not been able to
attend during the day, (just like
Hélène, my
very dear friend, who spoils me sometimes
with her splendid creations concerning the
world of 'Catherine
and Arnaud'). I am sure it was not easy for
Armelle at the first , when seven happily
smiling, and chatting together, women entered
- among them, tall and handsome Laurent le
Doyen.
But no worries, Armelle and the Le Gerfaut fans understood each other at
first sight.
We ordered our meals, and Laurent found finally
out that little Anaïs had the whole day a
secret, she was hiding from him! I will not
betray it, for me that was so cute, and I
can tell all the fans of Laurent le Doyen,
is a sweet and and lovable man.
It was Laurent who thought of calling our
absent friend Magali, at the
restaurant, thinking how upset she must
still be, for not having been able to attend
the reunion. He then told us of
some of his future plans - joining
Frédérique for a cigarette break...
which she naturally enjoyed while twinkling
at us...
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My impressions of
that stupendous day? I hope that all members
of fan clubs are treated so courteously as
we have been, by this gallant and
well-mannered Star of the memorable series
Le Gerfaut!
«
Let me now express my personal
thank you, for making this all possible dear Magali,
be it the entry to the area of Versailles,
the Grand and Petit Trianons, the
beautiful gardens and even the restaurants,
where we were able to rest our "strained"
feet and at the end having supper all
together, to round off the beautiful day.
Thank you cher Laurent
for sharing a moment with your fans. I shall
remember this founding day of the
very first fan club of "Laurent le Doyen"
with a deep gratification! I have been
welcomed by the "Le Gerfaut" fans with open
arms and I like to express my sincere thank
you for that. I am only sorry that I was not able
to meet Magali and some of the other fan
club members, who were for different reasons
not able to attend the fan meeting at
Versailles ».
You can trust me, 'Le Gerfaut' and
with it Laurent le Doyen shall have a
very special place in my heart, together with all
his fans. After all, we all belong to the
"La Benzoni/Sarraut family, or as Laurent
whispered in my ear "Mafia"
☺
Nota: Do
not miss the link to the website
Plateform des agences artistiques fr/en
for all the professional works of
Laurent le Doyen
|
Linda, webmaster of the official Catherine
website, approved by Juliette
Benzoni in 2009 |
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Two
years later, when I met the fan
club, in Paris to watch at the
Theater
Macbeth with Laurent in
the role role, he granted me the
great honour of signing the creation
that my sister had surprised me
with. Thank you very much dear
Laurent, it was the icing on the
cake |
Paris, Winter
2008
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A random meeting
in Montmartre/Paris between Laurent Le
Doyen and
Gérard Chambre, who played with
him in 'Le Gerfaut' and whose role was
that of the American Admiral 'John Paul Jones'.
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I would like to thank Frédérique
for the beautiful banner on top
and for her help on certain
facts about *Le Gerfaut* |
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