Glory, Dramas and Passion (with Louis de Funès)

Born July 22, 1941 in Vichy, Macha Beranger would have celebrated her 81st birthday in 2021. But she died on April 26, 2009, from cancer. The former confidante of France Inter marked the lives of many listeners whom she nicknamed the “without sleep” and that poured out their hearts on the airwavesthanks to the attentive ear of the facilitator.
According to figures from public radio, in 30 years of radio, it has relieved the ailments of 75,000 people. She even cracked the big one Louis de Funeswith whom she lived a passionate affair until the actor’s death. A look back at the journey of a colorful character who marked the history of radio.

Michele Riond, her real name, began her career in theater and television as an actress. The general public sees it in particular, at the end of the 1970s, in soap operas The Tiger Brigades and Inspector Maigret’s Investigations. But it’s at the microphone of France Inter that the young woman finds (almost literally) his voice.

Macha Béranger, the confidante of the airwaves

In the program she hosts on the airwaves, Hello Mashait collects testimonies and confidences people whose soul is in pain and who make the effort to call him, Monday to Friday, from midnight to 2am. As close as possible to its listeners, Macha Beranger advise them, answer them, soothe them… in a setting conducive to confidences, fitted out by the facilitator herself.

Each time she invests the studio, it installs a subdued light and does not hesitate to bring back her faithful little dog, installed on a cushion, during her broadcasts. His trademark ? Of the various and varied hats which are almost constantly screwed on his head.

On Thursday evening, it is the personalities known to the public who engage in his microphone. In the studio, Macha Beranger collects the confidences ofAnnie Girardot, Paul Bocuse, Dany Boon, Alain Delon and… Louis de Funeswith whom she has been living a crazy love story since one evening in 1970…

Louis de Funès, the love of his life

While a cocktail is given at the Maison de la Radio, the facetious actor is invited and meets the gaze of the host with the devastating charm. Therefore, the lovers never leave each other…. except when the actor has to join his wife Jeanne Augustine Barthelemy, who suspects nothing. For Louis de Funès, leaving wife and children out of the question. But he constantly joins his teacher at the Maison de la Radio, to admire him in full exercise of his art on the airwaves.

“Louis de Funès, who was in love with her, was there every evening. He would sit in the booth with the technicians and literally live what Masha was telling people. He grimaced, commented – it looked like a movie – Masha gave him knowing looks: they were melting“, told The Obs Philippe Manoeuvre, who hosted a program at night on France Interin the 80s.

Cancer, dismissal: the tumble

After the death of Louis de Funès in 1983, Macha Beranger continues to host his show while dedicating himself more to comedy. In the 2000s, she played in The Glanderby Jean-Pierre Mocky, then in Fist Viperand even becomes a recurring character on the hit series Under the sun.

Unfortunately, 2006 is a dark year for the host. This heavy smoker learns that she is suffering from breast cancerthen, she falls from a height when she sees his show canceled by the director of programs France Inter, Frédéric Schlesinger, who wishes to appeal to a younger audience. “I took a big hit on the head“, she blurts out. World.

After a brief stint at the microphone of MFM and experience as an editor of letters from the readers for Paris hereMacha Béranger slowly slips away from public life… until she pushes his last breath on April 26, 2009, struck down by lung cancer. She leaves behind his two sons beloved, Jérôme and Frédéric Roussel…