Jean-Pierre Bacri

One of France's most celebrated film personalities, Jean-Pierre Bacri is a constant double threat as a writer and actor, often performing both roles in the same film. Married to screenwriter Agnès Jaoui, who has been described as the "French Woody Allen" for her comic sensibility, most of his successful screenplays have been written in collaboration with her. The pair took home four César awards for their combined work on such movies as "Smoking/No Smoking" (1993), an adaptation of an episodic Alan Ayckbourn play, and the romantic comedy "The Taste of Others (2000). The pair was also awarded Best Screenplay at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival for "Look at Me" (2004), a drama about an ensemble of insecure characters. Alone, Bacri collected a César for his role as a put-upon son in the black comedy "Family Resemblances" (1996) which, true to form, he co-wrote with Jaoui (as well as Cédric Klapisch). All that writing work over the years must have been exhausting, so in many of his films he worked only as an actor. These include the star-studded French caper "Subway" (1985), in which he acted (as the colorfully named Inspector Batman) with luminaries such as Jean-Hugues Anglade, Jean Reno, and Isabelle Adjani; and 1998's "Place Vendôme," a Paris-set crime drama. Jean-Pierre Bacri died on January 18, 2021 in Paris, France at the age of 69.