Jean Pierre Melville
Director ● Producer ● Supporting Actor
Jean-Pierre Melville was a French filmmaker. He became well known for his tragic, minimalist film noir crime dramas, such as Le Doulos (1962), Le Samouraï (1967) and Le Cercle rouge (1970). Influenced by American cinema, especially gangster films of the 1930s and 1940s, he used accessories such as weapons, clothes and fedora hats, to shape a characteristic look in his movies. He is often regarded as the godfather of the Nouvelle Vague. At his death by heart attack in 1973, the 55-year-old had directed just 14 projects, at least six of which are acknowledged classics. Aside from Godard and Truffaut, luminaries such as John Woo, Quentin Tarantino, Michael Mann, Volker Schlöndorff, Johnnie To and Martin Scorsese have pointed to him as an key influence.
Born on: 20 October, 1917
Born in: Paris, France
Died on: 2 August, 1973
Height: 6' 0¾"
