Annie Fratellini (14 November 1932 - 1 July 1997) was a French circus artist, singer, film actress and clown.
She was born Annie Violette Fratellini on November 14, 1932, in Algiers, French Algeria, where her parents, who were circus performers, were touring.
She was the fourth generation of one of Europe's most illustrious clown dynasties, the Fratellini Family, a French circus family of Italian descent.
Her grandfather was Paul Fratellini, one of the Fratellini brothers, the legendary clown trio that was the Toast of Paris (and Europe) between the two world wars.
Although she made her debut in the ring at age 13 at the famous Cirque Medrano in Paris, she eventually ran away from the circus when she was 18 years old, and begun a music-hall and recording career as a musician and singer.
Pierre Étaix (1928-2016), who had been a comedian and Jacques Tati's assistant before becoming a filmmaker himself, had a passion for the circus and clowns.
Annie Fratellini had an inherited talent for comedy, and Pierre Étaix convinced her to take it seriously.
Together, they created a classic European clown duo in which Étaix was the Clown to Fratllini's Auguste (the comic character of the duet).
They made their debut on tour with the French Cirque Pinder.
In 1975, Étaix and Fratellini opened the École Nationale du Cirque, one of Paris's (and Europe's) first two professional circus schools, and created the Nouveau Cirque de Paris, an intimate, high-end traveling circus that was the performing arm of the school, and in which they regularly performed their act.