Léon Zitrone

Léon Zitrone (25 November 1914 – 25 November 1995) was a Russian-born French journalist and television presenter. Zitrone was born in Petrograd, Russia. He arrived in France with his family fleeing communism at the age of six. He graduated from the ESJ Paris. He began by training in scientific studies but his mastership of Russian, French, English and German gave him entrance in 1948 to the radio foreign broadcasting services of Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF). In 1959, he joined the television activity of RTF. From 1961, he became news presenter, function he occupied for nearly 20 years, first until 1975, on the first French television channel (now TF1), then also on Antenne 2, the other public service channel. Jean-Pierre Elkabbach called him back in 1979. He then took charge of the news program during the week-end (his contract was established until 1 February 1981). He would come back for those news programs also during the Easter and Pentecost week-ends. But Léon Zitrone's celebrity is due to the programs he presented or co-presented. He was host of the televised program Intervilles (French counterpart of Britain's It's a Knockout) with Guy Lux. He commented 6 times the Tour de France, and he is remembered for his prodigious memory for names of riders. He presented the Olympics for 8 times, commented the Eurovision Song Contest on 4 occasions and presented 16 Bastille Day military parades. Above all, he was the key-commenter for big events, such as weddings, burials or investitures of world's key figures, some thirty of them during the course of his career. In 1978, following French singer Marie Myriam's victory the previous year, the Eurovision song contest took place in Paris. Léon Zitrone co-presented with Denise Fabre and made the presentation in English. He was the oldest host of the Eurovision Song Contest, aged 63. In 1984, Zitrone took a leading role in the movie American Dreamer. He died from a cerebral hemorrhage on his 81st birthday, 25 November 1995, at the Val-de-Grâce hospital in Paris. Source: Article "Léon Zitrone" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Known For: Acting

Born: Petrograd, Russian Empire [now St. Petersburg, Russia], 1914-11-25

Died: 1995-11-25

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1959	Rue de Paris	Self	67
2	1961	Vingt mille lieues sur la Terre	Léon Garros, journaliste	0
3	1961	Leon Garros Is Looking for His Friend	Léon Garros	100
4	1961	Cocagne	Self	40
5	1961	Three Faces of Sin	Self	63
6	1962	Assassin's Check	Le journaliste télé	0
7	1963	The Bamboo Stroke		33
8	1963	Be Careful Ladies	Self	57
9	1964	Actualités télérévisées		0
10	1964	Clémentine chérie	Self (archive footage) (uncredited)	60
11	1965	Operation Double Cross	Self	30
12	1966	The Boss of Champignol	Self	0
13	1966	Seventeenth Heaven	Self (voice) (uncredited)	50
14	1967	Live for Life	Le présentateur télé	62
15	1969	Les gros malins	Self	10
16	1970	Let Them Live!	Self - Narrator	0
17	1971	La Lucarne magique	Une personnalité	0
18	1972	Menace	Le journaliste	10
19	1972	J'ai tout donné	Self	80
20	1974	Marriage	Self	53
21	1975	From Hong Kong with Love	Espion français	47
22	1977	Drôles de zèbres	Race Commentator	31
23	1980	The Party	Self	66
24	1982	Quarter to Two Before Jesus Christ	Presenter of the circus games	61
25	1983	Les mots pour le dire	TV show presenter (uncredited)	65
26	1984	American Dreamer	Ivan Stranauvlitch	62
27	1985	Marriage of the Century	Voix du commentateur (voice)	53
28	1987	Dorothée Show	Vigile	80
29	2022	La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président	Self (archive footage)	72

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1956	En direct de...	self	0
2	1956	Eurovision Song Contest	Self - Presenter	72
3	1962	Intervilles	Self - Host	50
4	1965	Dim Dam Dom	Self (voice)	60
5	1968	À bout portant	Self - Interviewer	80
6	1971	Samedi soir	Self	60
7	1972	Midi trente	Self	60
8	1975	Midi Première	Self	100
9	1975	Apostrophes	Self	85
10	1975	Les Rendez-vous du dimanche	Self	60
11	1976	30 millions d'amis	Self - Host	58
12	1976	30 millions d'amis	Self	58
13	1982	Champs-Elysées	Self	63
14	1987	Sacrée soirée	Self	65
15	1987	Sacrée soirée	Self - Commentary (voice)	65
16	1987	Téléthon	Self	50
17	2022	Il était une fois Champs-Élysées	Self (archive footage)	66

Léon Zitrone

Film

Television