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Pierre Tchernia was born Pierre Tcherniakowski on January 29, 1928 in Paris. In France known as "Magic" Tchernia and Monsieur Cinema, he is a cinema and television producer, screenwriter, presenter, animator and actor.

He was part of the creation of the first televised news in France in 1949 and was an early French news presenter. In 1955 he became a producer of animation (with a heavy influence from the early animation of Walt Disney). For many years he hosted a television game show of movie trivia, Monsieur Cinéma. He has also been host or presenter for various French talk, variety, quiz and music shows over the years.

A good friend of René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, the creators of Asterix, he has narrated many of the Asterix films in the original French, and written the screenplay for 4 of them. He has also been caricatured numerous times in the series:

• initially in Pilote 306 he is shown interviewing Asterix about the upcoming story Asterix in Britain
• in Asterix the Legionary he is pictured as one of the Roman officers around Caesar's map table
• in Pilote 556 the announcement page for Asterix in Switzerland has him hosting a game show with Asterix as guest and Goscinny & Uderzo as contestants
• in Asterix in Corsica he is "Centurion Hippopotamus" of the Roman camp of Totorum
• in Asterix and Caesar's Gift he appears as one of the soldiers being demobbed
• in Obelix and Co. he is part of the demoralized troop being replaced at the start of the story -- drinking from an amphora of wine, he is seen being carried out by caricatures of Goscinny and Uderzo
• in Asterix in Belgium he is a legionary who is happy to be beaten up by Obelix after having been stationed in Belgium

• 1949 part of the first French television news
• 1961 L'Ami Public n°1 — host of a series on the films of Walt Disney
• 1966 won the Rose d'Or (Golden Rose) at the Montreux festival
• 1966 Monsieur Cinéma television quiz show (host)
• 1968 Asterix and Cleopatra — screenwriter/film adaption
• 1971 Daisy Town (Lucky Luke) — lyrics
• 1976 The Twelve Tasks of Asterix — screenwriter/narrator in the original French
• 1978 The Ballad of the Dalton Gang (Lucky Luke) — screenwriter
• 1985 Asterix Versus Caesar — screenwriter/narrator in the original French
• 1986 Asterix in Britain — screenwriter/film adaption
• 2002 Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra — played "Caius Gaspachoandalus"/narrator in the original French
• 2006 Asterix and the Vikings — narrator in the original French

• Pierre Tchernia at the Internet Movie Database
• Mini Biography (French)
• Caricatures of Pierre Tchernia in many Astérix albums (French)