Get a closer look at some of Hollywood's perfect pairs.

Hollywood Power Couples

Get a closer look at some of Hollywood&#39;s perfect pairs.

"The Gentlemen" and "Slow Horses" return this fall, while the "Reacher" spin-off series "Neagley" makes its debut. See our guide of the biggest Fall TV and streaming releases.

2026 Fall TV and Streaming Watch Guide

&quot;The Gentlemen&quot; and &quot;Slow Horses&quot; return this fall, while the &quot;Reacher&quot; spin-off series &quot;Neagley&quot; makes its debut. See our guide of the biggest Fall TV and streaming releases.

See who dazzled on the red carpet and took home gold at the 78th Primetime Creative Emmy Awards.

Primetime Creative Arts Emmys: Photos We Love

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, Cristobal's Gold (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.

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

Awards

Jacques Becker

Berlin International Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival

French Syndicate of Cinema Critics

Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists

Jussi Awards

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Prix Louis Delluc

San Sebastián International Film Festival

Venice Film Festival

Cahiers du Cinéma

Contribute to this page

More from this person

More to explore

Recently viewed