The Greatest Frenchman

Le Plus Grand Français de tous les temps ("The Greatest Frenchman of all Time") was a France 2 show of early 2005, based on an original series of Great Britons on the BBC. The show asked the French viewers whom they thought was the Greatest Frenchman or Frenchwoman. It was presented by Michel Drucker and Thierry Ardisson, and the final episode was broadcast at the French Senate.

The winner was the former president and leader of the Free French movement, Charles de Gaulle.

The show was criticized by some historians in that it focused only on personalities of recent French history. Key figures of French history who contributed to the founding of the French nation, such as the national heroine Joan of Arc, the kings Philip Augustus, Saint Louis, and Louis XIV or French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte were largely ignored.

From 11 to 102

 * 1) Marcel Pagnol (1895-1974) – novelist, playwright and film director
 * 2) Georges Brassens (1921-1981) – singer and songwriter
 * 3) Fernandel (1903-1971) – singer, actor and comedian
 * 4) Jean de la Fontaine (1621-1695) – poet and fabulist
 * 5) Jules Verne (1828-1905) – science fiction author
 * 6) Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) – military leader and emperor
 * 7) Louis de Funès (1914-1983) – actor and comedian
 * 8) Jean Gabin (1904-1976) – actor
 * 9) Daniel Balavoine (1952-1986) – singer, songwriter and musician
 * 10) Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991) – singer and songwriter
 * 11) Zinedine Zidane (1972-) – footballer
 * 12) Charlemagne (748-814) – emperor
 * 13) Lino Ventura (1919-1987) – actor
 * 14) François Mitterrand (1916-1996) – president
 * 15) Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923) – architect
 * 16) Émile Zola (1840-1902) – novelist
 * 17) Emmanuelle Cinquin (1908-2008) – religious sister and humanitarian
 * 18) Jean Moulin (1899-1943) – leader of French resistance during World War II
 * 19) Charles Aznavour (1924-2018) – singer, songwriter and actor
 * 20) Yves Montand (1921-1991) – actor and singer
 * 21) Jeanne d’Arc (1412-1431) – military leader
 * 22) Général Leclerc (1902-1947) – military leader
 * 23) Voltaire (1694-1778) – philosopher and novelist
 * 24) Johnny Hallyday (1943-2017) – singer
 * 25) Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944) – aviator, novelist and poet
 * 26) Claude Francois (1939-1978) – singer
 * 27) Christian Cabrol – cardiologist and surgeon
 * 28) Jean-Paul Belmondo (1933-2021) – actor
 * 29) Jules Ferry (1832-1893) – politician and prime minister
 * 30) Louis Lumière – inventor, film director
 * 31) Michel Platini (1955-) – footballer
 * 32) Jacques Chirac (1932-2019) – president and prime minister
 * 33) Charles Trenet (1913-2001) – singer and songwriter
 * 34) Georges Pompidou (1911-1974) – president and prime minister
 * 35) Michel Sardou (1947-) – singer
 * 36) Simone Signoret (1921-1985) – actress
 * 37) Haroun Tazieff (1914-1998) – vulcanologist
 * 38) Jacques Prévert (1900-1977) – poet
 * 39) Éric Tabarly (1931-1998) – sailor
 * 40) Louis XIV (1638-1715) – king
 * 41) David Douillet (1969-) – judoka
 * 42) Henri Salvador (1917-2008) – singer and comedian
 * 43) Jean-Jacques Goldman (1951-) – singer, songwriter and musician
 * 44) Jean Jaurès (1859-1914) – politician
 * 45) Jean Marais (1913-1998) – actor and comedian
 * 46) Yannick Noah (1960-) – tennis player
 * 47) Albert Camus (1913-1960) – author and philosopher
 * 48) Dalida (1933-1987) – singer
 * 49) Léon Zitrone (1914-1995) – journalist
 * 50) Nicolas Hulot (1955-) – journalist
 * 51) Simone Veil (1927-2017) – politician
 * 52) Alain Delon (1935-) – actor
 * 53) Patrick Poivre d'Arvor (1947-) – journalist
 * 54) Aimé Jacquet (1941-) – footballer
 * 55) Francis Cabrel (1953-) – singer and songwriter
 * 56) Brigitte Bardot (1934-) – actress
 * 57) Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) – author
 * 58) Alexandre Dumas, père (1802-1870) – author and playwright
 * 59) Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) – novelist
 * 60) Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) – poet
 * 61) Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) – author and philosopher
 * 62) Maximilien de Robespierre (1758-1794) – political leader
 * 63) Renaud (1952-) – singer and songwriter
 * 64) Bernard Kouchner (1938-) – politician and humanitarian
 * 65) Claude Monet (1840-1926) – painter
 * 66) Michel Serrault (1928-2007) – actor
 * 67) Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) – painter
 * 68) Michel Drucker (1942) – journalist
 * 69) Raimu (1883-1946) – actor and comedian
 * 70) Vercingetorix (c.82BC-46BC) – chieftain who led resistance against the Roman army
 * 71) Raymond Poulidor (1936-2019) – cyclist
 * 72) Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) – poet
 * 73) Pierre Corneille (1606-1684) – playwright
 * 74) Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) – poet
 * 75) Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929) – prime minister, and journalist
 * 76) Gilbert Bécaud (1927-2001) – singer, songwriter and musician
 * 77) José Bové (1953-) – syndicalist
 * 78) Jean Ferrat (1930-2010) – singer and songwriter
 * 79) Lionel Jospin (1937-) – prime minister
 * 80) Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) – dramatist, poet, playwright and filmmaker
 * 81) Luc Besson (1959-) – film director
 * 82) Tino Rossi (1907-1983) – singer
 * 83) Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937) – educator and founder of the modern Olympic Games
 * 84) Jean Renoir (1894-1979) – film director
 * 85) Gérard Philipe (1922-1959) – actor and comedian
 * 86) Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) – philosopher, novelist and playwright
 * 87) Catherine Deneuve (1943-) – actress
 * 88) Serge Reggiani (1922-2004) – actor, singer and comedian
 * 89) Gérard Depardieu (1948-) – actor
 * 90) Françoise Dolto (1908-1988) – psychoanalyst
 * 91) René Descartes (1596-1650) – philosopher, mathematician, and scientist
 * 92) Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) – mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic theologian