born Feb. 6, 1932, Paris, France
died Oct. 21, 1984, Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris
French film director and critic.
As a film critic for the avant-garde Cahiers du Cinéma , he advocated the auteur theory and helped establish the New Wave movement. His first feature film was the semi-autobiographical The 400 Blows (1959), a portrait of a delinquent boy, that won him international acclaim. Influenced by Jean Renoir and Alfred Hitchcock , he made varied and admired movies such as Shoot the Piano Player (1960), Jules and Jim (1961), Fahrenheit 451 (1966), Stolen Kisses (1968), The Wild Child (1969), Day for Night (1973, Academy Award), The Story of Adèle H. (1975), and The Last Metro (1980). His films record life's grayness and flatness with a sense of resignation quite distinct from platitude or petulant nihilism.