(Paris) The French actor, filmmaker and producer Jacques Perrin, who had played in Donkey Skin Where The drum crab and co-directed the documentary The migratory peopledied Thursday in Paris at the age of 80, his family announced to AFP.
Posted at 12:31 p.m.
Updated at 3:02 p.m.
“The family has the immense sadness to inform you of the disappearance of the filmmaker Jacques Perrin, who died on Thursday April 21 in Paris. He passed away peacefully at the age of 80, ”she said in a statement sent by her son, Mathieu Simonet.
As an actor, Jacques Perrin appeared in more than 70 films from the 1950s.
His soft voice and his gray hair turned white were familiar to the general public, who saw him in particular at Pierre Schoendoerffer (The drum crab in 1977, A Captain’s Honor in 1982) and Jacques Demy (The ladies of Rochefort in 1967, Donkey Skin in 1970).
Jacques Perrin has also been the co-producer of some fifteen films since the end of the 1960s, including Z by Costa-Gavras (1968) or The chorists (2004) by his nephew Christophe Barratier, in which he also played.
Child of the ball, he was born in Paris on July 13, 1941 under the name of Jacques André Simonet. Son of a theater manager, Alexandre Simonet, and an actress, Marie Perrin, he performed on stage at the age of 15, then entered the Conservatory.
PHOTO JACQUES DEMARTHON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
In February 1997, Jacques Perrin won a César as best producer for the film Microcosmos: the grass people.
He began his film career in 1958 with an appearance in The cheaters of Marcel Carné, before a first important role in The girl with the suitcase by Valerio Zurlini.
Actor with the appearance of a young romantic first, he then played in particular in The truth by Henri-Georges Clouzot or compartment killers by Costa-Gavras, but shines above all in the films of Pierre Schoendoerffer, starting with The 317th platoon (1965). A film that “means a lot in his career”, he will say.
Then it will turn with him The drum crab (1977) and A Captain’s Honor (1982).
” Take up arms “
The other great director who counted in his career at the time was Jacques Demy, who made him work alongside Catherine Deneuve in The ladies of Rochefort (1967) and Donkey Skin (1970).
“That he called me was a surprise, I did not know the filmmakers of the New Wave […]. For The ladies of Rochefort, I had told him that I could neither dance nor sing. No problem, he replied, ”he said.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ARTV
Jean-Louis Trintignant, Yves Montand and Jacques Perrin in Z from Costa Gavras
Memorable in the costume of the Prince of Donkey Skinhe will continue to play regularly in the cinema, with certain outstanding roles such as in Cinema Paradiso (1989), while starting a production activity, through which he strives to support films committed to or defending the planet.
Committed to nature, he co-produces The monkey people (1989), Microcosmos: the grass people (1996), which earned him the César for best producer the following year, or Himalayas: the childhood of a chef (1999), before co-directing a number of notable documentaries himself.
“To be interested in nature is to take up arms to defend it. Cinema is obviously one of the most relevant weapons, emotion has more power of resonance than speech”, he affirmed.
In 2001, he successfully co-signed The migratory peopledevoted to birds, then oceans (2010), awarded the César for best documentary in 2011.
His latest film role, in Goliathreleased in March, echoed his environmental battles: in this thriller about pesticides, he teams up with a formidable lobbyist from the phytosanitary industry, played by Pierre Niney.