He played the same character, François Pignon, in the original stage production of "Le dîner de cons" in 1993.
On January 28th, 2005, he felt sick at home while receiving friends in his home near Evreux, in Normandy ; he was sent to Evreux' hospital and died. He was an alcoholic, and since years, that causes severe liver issues (he was diabetic). He told once, when asked "how do you like to die", "I'd like to faint".
Pupil of Louis Seigner in Conservatoire de Paris, he gained success playing nice, naive and funny guys (he did several one-man-shows in the late seventies-early eighties), but he always pretend he wasn't a fun man in real life. For his career, he had the medal and title of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.
Villeret's father Ahmed Boufroura was Algerian and his mother, Annette Bonin, French.