
Claude Autant-Lara
Biography
Claude Autant-Lara (August 5, 1901–February 5, 2000) was a French film director and later Member of the European Parliament (MEP).
Born at Luzarches in Val-d'Oise, Autant-Lara was educated in France and at London's Mill Hill School during his mother's exile as a pacifist. Early in his career, he worked as an art director and costume designer, his best-known work in this vein was possibly for Nana (1926), a silent film directed by Jean Renoir. Autant-Lara also acted in the film.
As a director, he frequently created provocative movies, saying "if a film does not have venom, it is worthless". In the 1960s, he turned his back on the New Wave movement, and from then on he had no popular successes.
On 18 June 1989, he came to public notice again, controversially, when he was elected to the European Parliament as a member of the National Front and the oldest member of the assembly. In his maiden speech, in July 1989, he caused a scandal by expressing his "concerns about the American cultural threat", provoking a walkout by the majority of the deputies.
In an interview granted to the monthly magazine Globe in September 1989, he accused ex-President of the European Parliament and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil of playing "ethnic politics" to try and "infiltrate and dominate", saying that "If they try to speak to me about genocide, I say they missed mother Veil!" He also described Nazi gas chambers as a "string of lies". The resulting scandal led to his resignation as European deputy. Moreover, the members of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, of which he was a vice-president for life, voted to prohibit him from taking his seat thenceforth.
His memoir, The Rage in the Heart, appeared in 1984. He died at Antibes in Alpes-Maritimes in 2000.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Acting (4 movies)
Directing (40 movies)

The Count of Monte Cristo
1961

The Red Inn
1951

Sylvia and the Ghost
1946

Good Lord Without Confession
1953

Devil in the Flesh
1947

Douce
1943

Fric-Frac
1939

Franciscan of Bourges
1968

Courier of Lyons
1937

Love Is My Profession
1958

La Traversée de Paris
1956

The Green Mare
1959

The Gambler
1958

Marguerite of the Night
1955

Le Rouge et le Noir
1954

Potatoes
1969

The Game of Love
1954

Keep an Eye on Amelia
1949

Josefa's Loot
1963

Thou Shalt Not Kill
1961

Long Live Henry IV... Long Live Love!
1961

The Marriage of Chiffon
1942

Love Letters
1942

The Oldest Profession
1967

News Item
1923

The Seven Deadly Sins
1952

Lovers Woods
1960

The Mysterious Mr. Davis
1939

A Woman in White
1965

Black Humor
1965

To Build a Fire
1928

Ciboulette
1933

Gloria
1977

A Woman in White Revolts
1966

The Regattas of San Francisco
1960

Enough Rope
1963
Buster se marie
1931
The incomplete athlete
1932
Boul se met au vert
1929
Plumber in love
1932
| Title | Year | Job |
|---|---|---|
| News Item | 1923 | Writer |
| The Mysterious Mr. Davis | 1939 | Producer |
| Devil in the Flesh | 1947 | Writer |
| The Red Inn | 1951 | Screenplay |
| Good Lord Without Confession | 1953 | Screenplay |
| Le Rouge et le Noir | 1954 | Writer |
| A Woman in White Revolts | 1966 | Producer |
| Potatoes | 1969 | Writer |
| Gloria | 1977 | Writer |



