What happens to Shirley and Dino? The couple, who left the spotlight, spoke to Mireille Dumas. New life in the provinces, professional reconversion, why they abandoned show business… they say it all!
They made France laugh for years with their offbeat sketches. Today, Shirley and Dino, aka Corinne and Gilles Benizio, have swapped TV sets and performance halls to live in the provinces. The duo of comedians preferred the gentleness of Ardèche to the intense rhythm of Parisian show business…
Where do Shirley and Dino live? Their life in this village “crush“
After years spent on the road, the couple chose to live far from the media. “We don’t miss it because we played a lot, we traveled around France…“, Shirley recently confided to Mireille Dumas, in a new program for the INA. Dino, for his part, assumed without nostalgia: “I’ve been on stage for 42 years, so that’s okay! (…) Retirement must be taken young and in great shape!” They found their haven of peace in this village in Ardèche dear to Jean Ferrat: Antraigues-sur-Volane. “It was thanks to him that we discovered this place, we fell in love with it and we settled there little by little.“, explained the 68-year-old ex-comedian.
But don’t think that the comedy duo has completely abandoned the world of entertainment! On the contrary, the couple, married for 40 years, decided to put on an annual show with the inhabitants of the village, many of whom had never set foot on stage. “Since there are only stars in this village, colorful characters, I said: ‘We should put on a show with them!‘”, he explained. A show which is also a real success every time. “Without advertising, there are 800 people who come to see the show“, he congratulated himself.
What do Shirley and Dino live on today? “She does it for seven hours a day!“
While Gilles Benizio, his real name, takes care of the lights and the staging, Corinne Benizio is in charge of supervising the costumes for the local show in their village. At the same time, they stage opera shows, enough to bring money into the coffers.
If they sometimes miss the boards, they have not lost the taste for creation. Shirley discovered a new passion for pottery and devotes much of her time to it. “She does it seven hours a day“, blurted Dino, amused, before adding: “She flooded the village with her creations!” He took up another emblematic activity of the South: pétanque. He has become a dedicated bowler, especially on weekends!
Shirley and Dino, what are their children doing? “They tried to escape…”
As for their two children, they are as passionate about the world of entertainment as they are. “They tried to escape! Raphaël became an engineer… He always loved music, but he didn’t want to be a musician because he said: “No, it doesn’t pay!‘”, she first told Mireille Dumas. But the artistic fiber ended up catching up with him. “He stopped everything after three years spent in a company as an engineer“. Today, their son is preparing to make his dream come true: “He’s going to open a tavern in Gennevilliers for brass bands… He also has a Techno fanfare and it’s really good!”
As for their daughter Elisa, her journey was just as unexpected. “She did a year of medicine and after a year, she said to her mother: ‘I want to be an actress, but I didn’t dare tell you.‘”. The young woman was able to count on the support of her mother, who encouraged her to sign up for lessons, then decided to help her put on a show with several of her friends. From this adventure was born a company, Les Mauvais Élèves, which now performs regularly on stage. Dino, for his part, does not hide his pride, convinced that it is the “most beautiful job in the world“…that they managed to transmit.
