Claude Berri, French auteur, dies at age 74Jan 12, 2009
Claude Berri, the French movie director who gained international fame during the 1980s for the star-studded period dramas Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring, died Monday at age 74, due to a possible stroke.
A prolific director, producer, writer, and actor, Berri worked in cinema for half a century, amassing credits on more than 125 movies, 20 as a director. In 1966, he won an Academy Award for his live action short film Le Poulet (The Chicken); in 1981, he was nominated for an Oscar as a producer of Roman Polanski's Tess. According to the Associated Press, French President Nicolas Sarkozy remembered Berri as a "legendary figure of French cinema."
news-briefs.ew.com
