Jacques Perrin, a French actor and filmmaker who co-directed “Winged Migration” and featured in scores of films like “Cinema Paradiso” and “The Young Girls of Rochefort,” has died at the age of 80, according to his family.
“The family has the immense sadness of informing you of the death of filmmaker Jacques Perrin, who died on Thursday, April 21 in Paris. He passed away peacefully
they announced in a statement sent to AFP by his son, Mathieu Simonet.
Perrin was born in Paris on July 13, 1941, and has acted in over 70 films throughout his career, which spans the 1950s to the present.
Perrin starred alongside Claudia Cardinale in “Girl with a Suitcase” in 1961, and he was equally at home in French and Italian movies.
Perrin, who was recognized for his grey-to-white hair and soothing voice, was frequently cast as a military officer and was best known for his roles in Pierre Schoendoerffer’s “The 317th Platoon” in 1965, “Drummer-Crab” in 1977, and “A Captain’s Honor” in 1982.
He also appeared in the Jacques Demy musicals “The Young Girls of Rochefort” and “Donkey Skin” alongside Catherine Deneuve.
Perrin’s best-known subsequent performances include the Oscar-winning “Cinema Paradiso,” in which he played the mature director Salvatore reflecting on his upbringing.
Perrin was also a co-producer on 15 films, including “Z,” which won Oscars for best foreign film and best film editing in 1969, and “The Chorus,” directed by his nephew Christophe Barratier and released in 2004.
In France, the latter was a great hit, with 8.6 million tickets sold at the box office.
PERRIN WAS A GREAT ENVIRONMENTALIST
Perrin’s final film performance, in the environmental thriller “Goliath,” which was released in March, emphasized his passion for nature.
He co-produced several documentaries, including “The Monkey Folk,” “Microcosmos,” and “Himalaya,” as a dedicated naturalist.
Later, he co-directed films such as “Winged Migration” (2001), which was nominated for an Academy Award, and “Oceans,” which received the Cesar Award for best documentary film in 2011.
“Jacques was the epitome of charm. Gilles Jacob, the former president of the Cannes Film Festival, tweeted, “He succeeded in all he touched.”
“He is one of the most nuanced, most interesting French producers,” Costa-Gavras remarked on Franceinfo, paying tribute to the memories of “a man of enormous curiosity and also of extreme generosity.”
“I admired Jacques Perrin, and then I had the chance to shoot him, his talent, his availability, his kindness meant that after filming I admired him even more”
Xavier Beauvois, who directed him in “Le Petit Lieutenant”, said on Twitter.
Military personnel paid appreciation to him for his performances as a soldier in Schoendoerffer’s films.
“The 317th section’s commander has died. “The forces salute the memory of Jacques Perrin, an emblematic figure of French cinema with whom we were intimately associated,” said General Thierry Burkhard, the French army chief of staff.
He was also praised by the Foreign Legion as “a big name in movies, a humble personality.”
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