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Noel Godin, who made powerful people nervous around cream pies, dies at 80

JOEL ROSE, HOST:

We're going to take a moment now to remember an artist who worked in an unusual medium. Some people paint. Others make films or sculptures. Noel Godin's medium was cream pies, and his canvas - the human face. Godin died this past week at the age of 80, according to his publisher, Les Editions Noir sur Blanc. Noel Godin was a Belgian anarchist, actor and social commentator, but he was best known for his entartage (ph). That's the French word he coined for his pie-ings (ph). We only attack the wicked, he told the LA Times in 1997 - the great and the wicked. Godin's pies found the faces of film legend Jean-Luc Godard, former French prime minister (ph) Nicolas Sarkozy and Bill Gates. But his favorite target was the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, whom he and his collaborators pied no less than seven times.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking French).

(SOUNDBITE OF PIE SPLATTERING)

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Oh. Oh.

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Speaking French).

ROSE: That was the second time in 1988, as seen on France 3.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking French).

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "HOMO CINEMATOGRAPHICUS")

NOEL GODIN: (Speaking French).

ROSE: In an interview for the 1998 documentary "Homo Cinematographicus," Noel Godin opined, quote, "let's make our lives an action film, a burlesque comedy with nothing but highlights. It's up to us." Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Jeffrey Pierre is an editor and producer on the Education Desk.
Joel Rose is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk. As the network’s transportation correspondent since 2023, Rose’s reporting focuses on roadway and pedestrian safety, an air travel system under stress and how emerging technologies are changing the ways we get around.