Host and producer Thierry Ardisson has died

By The New Obs with AFP

Published on July 14, 2025 at 9:37 a.m. , updated July 14, 2025 at 10:28 a.m.

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Presenter and producer Thierry Ardisson, a French television star nicknamed "The Man in Black" , died this Monday, July 14, at the age of 76 in Paris from liver cancer, his wife and children announced in a statement to AFP.

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"Thierry left us as he lived. A courageous and free man. With his children and mine, we were united around him. Until his last breath," wrote his wife, TF1 journalist Audrey Crespo-Mara.

Born on January 6, 1949, in Bourganeuf (Creuse), Thierry Ardisson cut his teeth in advertising with slogans that have gone down in history, before moving onto the small screen. He shook up the television landscape since the 1980s, establishing himself as one of its most impertinent figures, with his successful evening talk shows.

All of Paris's political and cultural establishment has attended his shows, including "Bains de minuit" , presented from the Bains Douches nightclub in Paris, "Glasses noires pour nuits blanches" at the legendary Palace and "Rive droite/Rive gauche" , the first daily cultural TV magazine in France. He also hosted "Tout le monde en parle" , a weekly show on France 2 (1998-2006) alongside his sidekick Laurent Baffie, then "Salut les Terriens" (2006-2018) on Canal+ and then C8.

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Dressed all in black and armed with an eternal smile, the host, who loved to transgress and disconcert his guests, had a way with words. Certain rituals, like his "Good evening" or "Magneto, Serge!" , remain inseparable from his character.

In 2020, he achieved recognition with "Arditube" , a YouTube channel launched by the National Audiovisual Institute (INA) and dedicated to the impressive television heritage - 35 shows - of a presenter with openly royalist convictions, little known for his modesty, but also a hard worker.

He did not only make friends in the industry: for Bernard Pivot, he was "so megalomaniac that he thinks he invented vulgarity on television."

The television personality was also a press boss, worked on radio, produced series and films, and wrote several books including "The Man in Black" , published in May. Emmanuel Macron awarded him the Legion of Honor in early 2024 .

Married three times, Thierry Ardisson had three children with musician Béatrice Loustalan. He shared his life with journalist and TF1 presenter Audrey Crespo-Mara, whom he married in 2014.