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IMDbPro

Jacques Becker(1906-1960)

  • Writer
  • Director
  • Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Jacques Becker in Montparnasse 19 (1958)
Writer-director Bertrand Tavernier is truly one of the grand auteurs of the movies. His experience is vast, his knowledge is voluminous, his love is inexhaustible and his perspective is matched only by that of Martin Scorsese. This magnificent, epic documentary has been a lifetime in the making. Tavernier knows his native cinema inside and out, from the giants like Renoir, Godard, and Melville (for whom he worked as an assistant) to now overlooked and forgotten figures like Edmund T. Gréville and Guy Gilles, and his observations and reminiscences are never less than penetrating and always deeply personal.
Play trailer1:27
My Journey Through French Cinema (2016)
1 Video
5 Photos
His interest in films was stimulated by a meeting with King Vidor, who offered him employment in the US as actor and assistant director. However, he remained in France and became assistant to Jean Renoir, a friend of the family, during that director's peak period (1932-39). In 1934 he ventured briefly into independent production, co-directing with Pierre Prévert a short film, Pitiless Gendarme (1935). In 1935 he turned out a five-reeler, Tête de turc (1935), which he later refused to acknowledge as his.

In 1939 he began shooting a feature film, L'or du Cristobal (1940), but walked out after three weeks, leaving the film to be finished by Jean Stelli. In 1942, after a year in a German prisoner-of-war camp, he began his career as director. His entire output consisted of only 13 films, but they include some of the most artistically and technically substantial in French cinema. He is one of the few Old Guard directors done honor by the New Wave, which reveres him for his masterpieces, the atmospheric period love story Casque d'Or (1952) and the superb prison escape drama Le Trou (1960), and also for his lesser films, such charming love tales as Antoine & Antoinette (1947) and Edward and Caroline (1951), in which he vividly depicts French social milieus through careful attention to background. His Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954), a gangster film distinguished for its detailed action and penetration of character, exerted considerable influence on subsequent série noire French films. He was less successful with such commercial ventures as Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1954), which was dominated by Fernandel, and Montparnasse 19 (1958), a biographical sketch of the last years in the life of Modigliani. Becker's widow is French stage and screen actress Françoise Fabian (b. Michèle Cortès de Leone y Fabianera, 1932, Algiers). He was the father of director Jean Becker.
BornSeptember 15, 1906
DiedFebruary 21, 1960(53)
BornSeptember 15, 1906
DiedFebruary 21, 1960(53)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Awards

Photos

Jacques Becker and Gérard Philipe in Montparnasse 19 (1958)
Anouk Aimée and Jacques Becker in Montparnasse 19 (1958)
Jacques Becker, Judith Magre, and Gérard Philipe in Montparnasse 19 (1958)
Jacques Becker and Gérard Philipe in Montparnasse 19 (1958)

Known for

Philippe Leroy, Michel Constantin, Jean Keraudy, Raymond Meunier, and Marc Michel in Le Trou (1960)
Le Trou
8.5
  • Writer
  • 1960
Rendez-vous de juillet (1949)
Rendez-vous de juillet
7.1
  • Writer
  • 1949
Casque d'Or (1952)
Casque d'Or
7.6
  • Writer
  • 1952
Antoine & Antoinette (1947)
Antoine & Antoinette
7.4
  • Writer
  • 1947

Credits

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IMDbPro

Writer

  • Philippe Leroy, Michel Constantin, Jean Keraudy, Raymond Meunier, and Marc Michel in Le Trou (1960)
    Le Trou
  • Montparnasse 19 (1958)
    Montparnasse 19
    • (uncredited)
  • The Adventures of Arsène Lupin (1957)
    The Adventures of Arsène Lupin
  • Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1954)
    Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
  • Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954)
    Touchez Pas au Grisbi
  • Rue de l'Estrapade (1953)
    Rue de l'Estrapade
    • (uncredited)
  • Casque d'Or (1952)
    Casque d'Or
  • Edward and Caroline (1951)
    Edward and Caroline
  • Rendez-vous de juillet (1949)
    Rendez-vous de juillet
  • Antoine & Antoinette (1947)
    Antoine & Antoinette
  • Micheline Presle and Raymond Rouleau in Paris Frills (1945)
    Paris Frills
  • It Happened at the Inn (1943)
    It Happened at the Inn
  • Jean Dasté and Simone Guisin in Life Is Ours (1936)
    Life Is Ours
  • Tête de turc
  • Pitiless Gendarme

Director

  • Philippe Leroy, Michel Constantin, Jean Keraudy, Raymond Meunier, and Marc Michel in Le Trou (1960)
    Le Trou
  • Montparnasse 19 (1958)
    Montparnasse 19
  • The Adventures of Arsène Lupin (1957)
    The Adventures of Arsène Lupin
  • Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1954)
    Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
  • Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954)
    Touchez Pas au Grisbi
  • Rue de l'Estrapade (1953)
    Rue de l'Estrapade
  • Casque d'Or (1952)
    Casque d'Or
  • Edward and Caroline (1951)
    Edward and Caroline
  • Rendez-vous de juillet (1949)
    Rendez-vous de juillet
  • Antoine & Antoinette (1947)
    Antoine & Antoinette
  • Micheline Presle and Raymond Rouleau in Paris Frills (1945)
    Paris Frills
  • It Happened at the Inn (1943)
    It Happened at the Inn
  • Dernier atout (1942)
    Dernier atout
  • L'or du Cristobal (1940)
    L'or du Cristobal
    • (some scenes)
  • Jean Dasté and Simone Guisin in Life Is Ours (1936)
    Life Is Ours

Second Unit or Assistant Director

  • A Day in the Country (1946)
    A Day in the Country
  • Jules Berry, Fernandel, and Elvire Popesco in L'héritier des Mondésir (1940)
    L'héritier des Mondésir
  • La Marseillaise (1938)
    La Marseillaise
  • The Grand Illusion (1937)
    The Grand Illusion
  • Jean Gabin and Suzy Prim in The Lower Depths (1936)
    The Lower Depths
  • Jean Dasté and Simone Guisin in Life Is Ours (1936)
    Life Is Ours
  • Madame Bovary (1934)
    Madame Bovary
    • (uncredited)
  • Chotard et Cie (1933)
    Chotard et Cie
  • Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)
    Boudu Saved from Drowning
  • Night at the Crossroads (1932)
    Night at the Crossroads
  • Allô... Allô...
    • (as J. de Beauker)
  • Y'en a pas deux comme Angélique
    • (as J. de Beauker)

Videos1

My Journey Through French Cinema - Theatrical Trailer
Trailer 1:27
My Journey Through French Cinema - Theatrical Trailer

Personal details

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    • September 15, 1906
    • Paris, France
    • February 21, 1960
    • Paris, France(undisclosed)
    • Françoise FabianAugust 2, 1958 - February 21, 1960 (his death, 1 child)
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Article

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Father of French director Jean Becker and French cinematographer Étienne Becker.

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