René Clément

Biography

René Clément (March 18, 1913, Bordeaux – March 17, 1996, Monte Carlo, Monaco) was a French film director and screenwriter. Clément studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts where he developed an interest in filmmaking. In 1936, he directed his first film, a 20 minute short written and featuring Jacques Tati. Clément spent the latter part of the 1930s making documentaries in parts of the Middle East and Africa. In 1937, he and archaeologist Jules Barthou were in Yemen making preparations to film a documentary, the first ever of that country and one that includes the only known film image of Imam Yahya. Almost ten years passed before Clément directed a feature but his French Resistance film, La Bataille du rail (1945), gained much critical and commercial success. From there René Clément became one of his country's most successful and respected directors, garnering numerous awards including two films that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the first in 1950 for The Walls of Malapaga (Au-delà des grilles) and the second time two years later for Forbidden Games (Jeux interdits). Clément had international success with several films but his star-studded 1966 epic…

Directed

1. Purple Noon (1960) — Director
2. Forbidden Games (1952) — Director
3. Is Paris Burning? (1966) — Director
4. Rider on the Rain (1970) — Director
5. Joy House (1964) — Director
6. Gervaise (1956) — Director
7. The Damned (1947) — Director
8. The Battle of the Rails (1946) — Director
9. Watch Your Left (1936) — Director
10. The Walls of Malapaga (1949) — Director
11. And Hope to Die (1972) — Director
12. Mr. Orchid (1946) — Director
13. The Joy of Living (1961) — Director
14. The Deadly Trap (1971) — Director
15. Monsieur Ripois (1954) — Director
16. The Day and the Hour (1963) — Director
17. The Glass Castle (1950) — Director
18. The Babysitter (1975) — Director
19. This Angry Age (1957) — Director
20. L'Arabie interdite (1937) — Director
21. Caesar among the Gauls (1931) — Director
22. Ceux du rail (1943) — Director
23. Aude, belle inconnue (1937) — Director
24. Évasion (1935) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Purple Noon (1960) — Clumsy Waiter (uncredited)
2. Citizen Jane Fonda (2020)
3. Filmmaking on the Riviera (1964) — Self
4. Cinépanorama (1956) — Self
5. Alain Delon, l'ombre au tableau (2019) — Self (archive footage)
6. Spécial cinéma (1974) — Self
7. Europe Express (1984)
8. Les Grands Créateurs de Cinéma : René Clément (2022) — Self (archive footage)
9. Pour le plaisir (1964) — Self
10. Ciné regards (1978) — Self