Jacques Perrin

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Jacques Perrin
Jacques Perrin 2009 (cropped).jpg
Perrin at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival
Born
Jacques André Simonet

(1941-07-13)13 July 1941
Paris, France
Died21 April 2022(2022-04-21) (aged 80)
Paris, France
Alma materCNSAD
OccupationActor, producer, director
Years active1957–2022
Spouse(s)
Valentine Perrin
​
(m. 1995)​
Children3; including Maxence

Jacques Perrin (born Jacques André Simonet; 13 July 1941 – 21 April 2022) was a French actor and filmmaker.[1] He was occasionally credited as Jacques Simonet.

Career[edit]

Perrin was given his first juvenile film roles by Italian director Valerio Zurlini,[2] becoming then one of his favorite actors.[3]

Perrin in a 1961 publicity photo

For Zurlini, he appeared alongside Claudia Cardinale in the romantic drama La Ragazza con la valigia and Marcello Mastroianni in Family Diary.

He then played roles in films by Henri-Georges Clouzot (The Truth in 1960) and Mauro Bolognini (Corruption in 1963), and leading roles in four films by Pierre Schoendoerffer: La 317e Section (1965), Le Crabe-tambour (1977), A Captain's Honor (1982) and Là-haut, un roi au dessus des nuages (2004).

He appeared in two musical movies by Jacques Demy: The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) and Donkey Skin (1970), both with Catherine Deneuve. He also was the adult Salvatore in the international success Cinema Paradiso.

At 27, he created a film production company and produced and acted in Z, directed by Costa-Gavras and starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Yves Montand, and Irene Papas. Z received the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 1969.

He produced the Costa-Gavras films État de Siège (State of Siege) in 1973 and Section spéciale in 1975. Both had political themes, and as a producer, Perrin continued along this path with a documentary on the Algerian uprising (La guerre d'Algérie) and a film on the Chilean presidency of Salvador Allende (La Spirale). In 1973, he produced the first film by Benoît Lamy, Home Sweet Home in which he starred alongside Claude Jade as his love interest. The movie received 14 international awards.

In 1976, he produced another Oscar-winning film: La Victoire en chantant (Black and White in Color) by director Jean-Jacques Annaud. A year later, he embarked on Le Désert des Tartares as a producer and an actor, co-starring Trintignant again, but also Max von Sydow, Vittorio Gassman and Philippe Noiret. The film won the Grand Prix du Cinéma Français.

Perrin then devoted himself to making nature documentaries. He was the producer of Microcosmos in 1995 and producer and co-director of Winged Migration in 2001, Océans in 2009 and Seasons in 2015.

On screen, Perrin played the part of the old Pierre Morhange, narrator of the internationally successful film The Chorus, which he also produced. The young Pépinot was played by his son Maxence.

On the Parisian stage, he gave over 400 performances in the popular French play L'Année du bac (Graduation Year), by José-André Lacour, starting in 1958.

Awards[edit]

Jacques Perrin has received numerous distinctions including that of the Commander of the Legion of Honour and Commander of the National Order of the Merit.

In 1966, he won two Best Actor awards at the Venice Film Festival, for the Italian film Almost a Man and the Spanish film The Search.

In 2015, he became a member of the French Marine Painters and was promoted to Commander as a reserve officer in the French Navy.

In 2016, he received the prestigious Prix du Cinéma René Clair from the French Academy.

Personal life[edit]

Perrin was born in Paris. His father, Alexandre Simonet, was a theatre director and his mother, Marie Perrin, was an actress. He is also the nephew of the actor Antoine Balpêtré. Perrin was trained as an actor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique.

He married Valentine Perrin in 1995. He had three sons, Mathieu (born 1975), Maxence (born 1995), and Lancelot, born 2000. The two eldest are actors.

Perrin died on 21 April 2022, in Paris, aged 80.[4]

Filmography[edit]

Actor[edit]

Producer[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Jacques Perrin at IMDb
  2. ^ Laurence, Haloche (16 April 2011). "Jacques Perrin, l'homme aux deux visages". Le Figaro. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  3. ^ Kehr, Dave (30 May 2006). "The Valerio Zurlini Box Set". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  4. ^ Mort de Jacques Perrin, comédien et chevalier blanc de la production indépendante (in French)

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jacques_Perrin&oldid=1084474879"