François Roland Truffaut (UK: /ˈtruːfoʊ, ˈtrʊfoʊ/ TROO-foh, TRUUF-oh, US: /truːˈfoʊ/ troo-FOH,French: [fʁɑ̃swa ʁɔlɑ̃ tʁyfo]; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry, having worked on over 25 films. Truffaut’s film The 400 Blows came to be a defining film of the French New Wave movement, and was followed by four sequels, Antoine et Colette, Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board, and Love on the Run, between 1958 and 1979.
Truffaut’s 1973 film Day for Night earned him critical acclaim and several accolades, including the BAFTA Award for Best Film and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His other notable films include Shoot the Piano Player (1960), Jules and Jim (1961), The Soft Skin (1964), The Wild Child (1970), Two English Girls (1971), The Last Metro (1980), and The Woman Next Door (1981).
French director François Truffaut on the set of his movie Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent (Two English Girls and the Continent), based on the novel by Henri-Pierre Roché. (Photo by Etienne George/Sygma via Getty Images)
