Jean Renoir
Biography
Jean Renoir
Remarkable:
Jean financed some of his films by selling some of his late father’s paintings.
Born:
September 15, 1894
Died:
February 12, 1979
The second son of impressionist Auguste Renoir grew up in the artistic milieu of turn-of-the-century Paris. After World War I, in which he was wounded, his film career started when he scripted Catherine (1924). A year later Renoir directed his first film, La fille de l'eau because he wanted to make a star of his wife Catherine Hessling (a former model of his father).
The coming of sound raised him on a higher level commercially, On purge Bébé (1931) and artistically, La Chienne (1931).
In the late thirties he reached his peaks with La Grande Illusion (1937), a study of three French POWs and La regle du jeu (1939). He left France in 1941 during the German invasion and became a naturalized US citizen. In Hollywood, Renoir made six American films with limited success. He turned to writing, to the theatre and to television.
Jean was awarded the French légion d'honneur in 1977.
Academy awards:
1946 - Nominated best Director for: The Southerner (1945)
1975 - Honorary Academy Award
Selected Movies:
- La Grande illusion (1937)
- La Règle du jeu (1939)
- Une partie de campagne (1936)
- La Bête humaine (1938)
- La Chienne (1931)
