Michou — French drag performer and Montmartre club owner

Career and performances

Michou rose to public notice through live cabaret shows that emphasized costume, song and impersonation. His club in Montmartre hosted an audience drawn to musical revue, comic sketches and the traditional French café-concert atmosphere. He appeared on television frequently in the 1980s and was cast as Beauchamp in the 1973 TV production "Molière pour rire et pour pleurer," directed by Marcel Camus. Filmmaker Jean Luret later chronicled his life in the documentary L'intrigant destin d’un Transformiste, underscoring Michou's role in popularizing transformist entertainment in France.

Style and public persona

Michou cultivated a flamboyant stage persona that blended glamour, humor and homage to well-known singers and actresses. As a transformist, he relied on elaborate makeup, wigs and costumes to create theatrical likenesses; this approach linked him to a long European tradition of cabaret and drag performance. His name became synonymous with the Montmartre entertainment scene, and his club served as an emblem of that neighborhood's nocturnal culture.

Recognition and legacy

In recognition of his cultural presence, Michou was appointed a chevalier (knight) of the Légion d'honneur in 2005. Critics and audiences have noted his contribution to preserving French cabaret traditions while bringing transformist performance into mainstream media. Through live shows, television work and documentary exposure, he helped sustain interest in Paris's historic entertainment districts.

Notable facts and final years

• Birth name: Michel Georges Alfred Catty; born 18 June 1931 in Amiens.
• Owner and figurehead of Chez Michou, a Montmartre cabaret noted for transformist revues.
• Performed on television and appeared in a 1973 adaptation of Molière under director Marcel Camus.
• Subject of Jean Luret's documentary L'intrigant destin d’un Transformiste.
• Awarded the Légion d'honneur (chevalier) in 2005.
• Died on 26 January 2020 at age 88 in the Paris suburb of Saint-Mandé, of a pulmonary embolism (pulmonary embolism).

Michou remains a reference point in discussions of French cabaret and drag history, remembered for a singular combination of showmanship, hospitality and devotion to Montmartre's artistic nightlife.