Jean-Claude Carrière (; 17 September 1931 – 8 February 2021) was a French novelist, screenwriter and actor. He received an Academy Award for best short film for co-writing Heureux Anniversaire (1963), and was later given an Honorary Oscar in 2014.

Early life

Carrière was born in Colombières-sur-Orb in southwestern France on 17 September 1931. Carrière was a gifted student, who employed Carrière to write novels based on his movies.

Career

Carrière met Pierre Étaix, who worked as Tati's first assistant. They earned their second Oscar nomination five years later for Best Adapted Screenplay in That Obscure Object of Desire (1977).

thumb|Carrière in 2008

Carrière also penned the screenplay for The Tin Drum (1979), which won both the Palme d'Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival and Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars a year later. His work on The Return of Martin Guerre (1983) won the 1983 César Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Carrière co-founded La Fémis, the French state film school, in 1986. He collaborated with Peter Brook on a nine hour long stage version of the ancient Sanskrit epic The Mahabharata, and a five-hour film version. He was credited as a script consultant in The White Ribbon, which won the Palme d'Or in 2009. Carrière also wrote comics for Bernard Yslaire and Pierre Étaix. He was given an Academy Honorary Award in 2014,

  • Academy Honorary Award (2014) for lifetime achievement (at Governors Awards)
  • Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement (2000)
  • Asteroid 347266 Carrière, discovered by amateur astronomer Bernard Christophe at Saint-Sulpice Observatory in 2004, was named in his memory. The was announced by the International Astronomical Union on 16 June 2021.
  • Rupture (1962, Short)
  • Heureux Anniversaire (1962, Short)
  • Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)
  • Tant qu'on a la santé (1966)
  • The Thief of Paris (1967)
  • La Chair de l'orchidée (1975)
  • Julie pot de colle (1977)
  • The Associate (1979)
  • The General of the Dead Army (1983)
  • The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
  • Priez pour nous (1994)
  • The Night and the Moment (1995)
  • The Ogre (1996)
  • Les Thibault (2003, TV mini series)
  • The Artist and the Model (2012)

Actor

<!-- * The Suitor (1962) – Le présentateur TV (uncredited) -->

  • Diary of a Chambermaid (1964) – Le curé
  • Le jeu du solitaire (1976) – Luc
  • L'amour nu (1981) – Le professeur
  • Certified Copy (2010) – L'homme de la place

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Bibliography

  • In-depth interview with Carrière from 1999
  • Jean-Claude Carrière tells his life story at Web of Stories