French cinema is in mourning this Thursday, April 21 after the announcement of the death of Jacques Perrin. The actor, director and producer, also a member of the Academy of Fine Arts, died at the age of 80.
Actor, filmmaker and producer Jacques Perrin, who had starred in Donkey Skin Where The Drum Crab and directed the documentary The migratory peopledied Thursday in Paris at the age of 80, his family announced to AFP.
Peroxide blond hair, sailor suit on the back, Jacques Perrin will remain for many the eternal Maxence, dreamy lover in love with Catherine Deneuve in The Demoiselles de Rochefort by Jacques Demy. He reunited with the actress and the director a few years later, in 1970, in Donkey Skinand this time he plays Prince Charming.
Son of a manager and an actress, Jacques Perrin is a child of the ball. He made his first film at the age of 5: The gates of night by Marcel Carné in 1946. He joined the drama conservatory at the age of 17 and very quickly obtained roles in theater and cinema.
His rich career includes collaborations with Costa Gavras, Bertrand Tavernier or even Pierre Schoendorfer who entrusts him with the role of naval officer in The Drum Crab.
Producer and conservationist
He produces movies like Z by Costa-Gavras (1968), which won an Oscar, followed byState of siege (1972) and Special section (1974), or even Victory singing (1976) by Jean-Jacques Annaud, before turning to documentaries devoted to animals and the environment, with the exception of a few films such as the great public success The chorists (2004) by Christophe Barratier and its 8.6 million admissions.
Over the years, Jacques Perrin had become a producer and director of animal films. This discreet humanist then enjoyed success with The migrating people (2001) which brought together nearly 2.8 million spectators in theaters, Oceans (2.9 million spectators in 2010) or Microcosmos for which he received the César for best producer in 1997.
His latest film role, in Goliath, released in March, echoed his environmental struggles. In this thriller about pesticides, he teams up with a formidable lobbyist from the phytosanitary industry, played by Pierre Niney.