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Photo of Claude Autant-Lara

Claude Autant-Lara

Director, Writer, Actor, Producer, Additional Credits
Born August 5, 1901Died February 5, 2000 (98 years)
Claude Autant-Lara (August 5, 1901–February 5, 2000) was a French film director and later Member of the European Parliament (MEP).

Born at Luzarches in Val-d'Oise, Autant-Lara was educated in France and at London's Mill Hill School during his mother's exile as a pacifist. Early in his career, he worked as an art director and costume designer, his best-known work in this vein was possibly for Nana (1926), a silent film directed by Jean Renoir. Autant-Lara also acted in the film.

As a director, he frequently created provocative movies, saying "if a film does not have venom, it is worthless". In the 1960s, he turned his back on the New Wave movement, and from then on he had no popular successes.

On 18 June 1989, he came to public notice again, controversially, when he was elected to the European Parliament as a member of the National Front and the oldest member of the assembly. In his maiden speech, in July 1989, he caused a scandal by expressing his "concerns about the American cultural threat", provoking a walkout by the majority of the deputies.

In an interview granted to the monthly magazine Globe in September 1989, he accused ex-President of the European Parliament and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil of playing "ethnic politics" to try and "infiltrate and dominate", saying that "If they try to speak to me about genocide, I say they missed mother Veil!" He also described Nazi gas chambers as a "string of lies". The resulting scandal led to his resignation as European deputy. Moreover, the members of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, of which he was a vice-president for life, voted to prohibit him from taking his seat thenceforth.

His memoir, The Rage in the Heart, appeared in 1984. He died at Antibes in Alpes-Maritimes in 2000.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Known For

  • The Crossing of Paris
  • Love Is My Profession
  • The Red Inn
  • Devil in the Flesh
  • Paris Asleep
  • The Red and the Black
  • Sylvie and the Ghost
  • The Story of the Count of Monte Cristo
  • Fric-Frac
  • Douce
  • The Green Mare
  • L'auberge rouge
  • Occupe-toi d'Amélie..!
  • Marguerite de la nuit
  • The Immature Grain
  • Enough Rope
  • Le mariage de Chiffon
  • The Oldest Profession
  • Le joueur
  • Le bon Dieu sans confession
  • The Seven Deadly Sins
  • Nana
  • The Imaginary Voyage
  • Les patates

Claude Autant-Lara Filmography

1965
A Woman in White · as Un Spectateur Qui Sort Du Cinéma
1927
1926
Nana · as Fauchery
1920
Man of the Sea · as Un Des Copains (uncredited)

2022
2012
1995
Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood (TV Series) · as Self
1987
1980
1975
Sunday meetings (TV Series) · as Self
1964
Filmmakers of our time (TV Series) · as Self
1956
Cinépanorama (TV Series) · as Self

2007
L'auberge rouge · as Adaptation And Dialogue
1961
Thou Shalt Not Kill · as Adaptation And Dialogue
1958
Love Is My Profession · as Adaptation And Dialogue
1954
The Immature Grain · as Dialogue
1952
The Seven Deadly Sins · as Scenario & Dialogue
1947
Devil in the Flesh · as Costume Design
1943
Douce · as Costume Design
1942
Le mariage de Chiffon · as Costume Design
1938
The Stream · as Assistant Director
1937
1927
The Devil in the Heart · as Production Designer
1927
The Devil in the Heart · as Assistant Director
1926
Nana · as Production Design
1926
Nana · as Costume Designer
1926
The Imaginary Voyage · as Assistant Director
1925
Paris Asleep · as Art Director
1925
Paris Asleep · as Assistant Director
1924
L'inhumaine · as Art Direction
1924
L'inhumaine · as Costume Design
1920
Man of the Sea · as Art Direction
1920
Man of the Sea · as Costume Designer

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