Emilien Buffalo Bill Bouglione, RIP 2026

There was a French man named Buffalo Bill whose mother was named Rosa! Yes really! OK, we admit it was his middle name, but Émilien Buffalo Bill Bouglione did exist. In fact he just passed away in March of 2026. His unusual name caused quite a stir when he went to vote and the officials called out “Émilien Buffalo Bill Bouglione a vote!”. So who was Émilien Buffalo Bill Bouglione?

The Bouglione clan is the premier circus family of France. Perhaps you are familiar with their posters around Paris or have even been to the show at the Cirque d’Hiver. In the early days they were traveling circus performers. Before they became famous under their own name they tried various marketing strategies to draw crowds. One of them was capitalizing on another famous showman Buffalo Bill. After acquiring surplus posters from the 1905 French tour of Buffalo-Bill’s Wild West, the Bougliones launched the Stade Capitaine Buffalo-Bill in 1924. Despite the fact that their performance was hardly Western, they successfully attracted audiences in Belgium and later provincial France. Attendees appreciated the vibrant and unique atmosphere provided by the Bougliones. They blended elements of their Sinti (a subgroup of the Romani people) heritage with a stylized « Wild West » segment concluding the show. It was those shows under the Buffalo Bill name that elevated them in the French circus world and made them famous. After the Buffalo Bill period, the family circus was able to become the official resident troupe of the cirque d’Hiver in Paris where they remain to this day.

During the 1934 “Buffalo Bill tour” one of the four Bouglione brothers, Joseph, and his wife Rosa (who had been married in the lion cage) had a son. The boy was born in Coulommiers one night after the show. Joseph and Rosa´s caravan was under the market’s cheese hall as it had been damaged in a recent storm. They named their son Émilien Buffalo Bill Bouglione and apparently, he’s always loved cheese. You can see a photo of his birth certificate in the biography “Prince du Cirque!”by Pascaline Kromicheff.

Émilien, of course, grew up as a performer.  As a boy he was an acrobat, trapeze artist, horse trainer, clown, animal tamer- like his father-, and even a human cannonball. This versatile daredevil began his career at age 5 as a ring boy, forging over time a reputation as a daring and well-rounded artist. At 17, he doubled Tony Curtis during the filming of the movie “Trapeze”.

What followed was the making of Émilien Bouglione, the Circus Icon. He had true ambitions as a circus artist, which quickly found their shape in the act called La Poste (« The Courier »)—that vertiginous equestrian presentation created in the 19th century by Andrew Ducrow, in which a rider stands astride two horses at full gallop while a half-dozen stallions pass at great speed between his legs, the rider catches their long reins one by one adding them to his galloping group. Émilien presented the act first in a cowboy costume, then as Zorro, and finally in the Roman attire of Ben-Hur. Costumes were very important to Émilien, as opposed to his father and his uncles, who often appeared in the ring (and in the cage) in their street clothes.

Over time the generations evolved and Émilien became co-director of the circus with his siblings and fathered the next generation of circus performers. Today you’ll see Émilien ’s grandchildren performing. Émilien Buffalo Bill Bouglione, who passed away at the age of 92, leaves behind the image of an artist with profound expertise, heir and guardian of a legendary circus dynasty. He embodied the soul of the classical circus: a blend of virtuosity, courage, poetry, and the passing on of knowledge.

Already fans and multi-visitors to the Cirque d’Hiver performances we had the immense pleasure and privilege in 2019 of meeting him over breakfast one morning in a bed and breakfast in the town of Bayeux which holds an annual circus festival.

Émilien had a sharp sense of style and a true elegance which continued throughout his life including at that breakfast table where we met him. First thing in the morning he was in a beautiful jacket with a most interesting woven pattern, crisp white shirt, tie with tie tack, cufflinks. He wore fabulous rings and had a cane with a brass dog’s head. It was less the flamboyance of a retired circus veteran than the grace and elegance of a man with real style and presence. There was nothing intimidating or haughty about him. He was kind, interested and the conversation flowed. Genuine. Émilien Bouglione was one of those beloved personalities thanks to whom the word « circus » continues to evoke fascination and legend rather than mere nostalgia.

At Bill & Rosa’s Book Room, we of course, get a particular charge, after the parallel of names in this story. Another connection between Buffalo Bill and Rosa, this time wrapped in one man.

The Cirque d’Hiver is an architectural gem of a building and the careful stewardship of the family keeps it beautiful. It is located in the heart of Paris, between the Place de la République and the Place de la Bastille. The Cirque d’Hiver is the world’s oldest extant circus building. It is also the world’s oldest circus still in activity. There are guided visits of the building organized regularly. The Bouglione family puts on a fabulous show each year. We encourage you to go for a marvelous experience dear to the French. https://www.cirquedhiver.com/

Learn more about the Cirque d’Hiver building https://www.circopedia.org/Cirque_d%27Hiver

Read about other French entrepreneurial families: https://fusac.fr/french-entrepreneur-families/