Yves Robert

A beloved filmmaker and national treasure in his native France, Yves Robert had a brilliant and award-winning career writing and directing comedies. Success came relatively late for Robert, whose fifth feature, "War of the Buttons," won the coveted Prix Jean Vigo, a French cinema award typically given to a promising young director. But it was his 1972 spy spoof, "The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe," that won him real international fame, along with the Silver Berlin Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film was remade with Tom Hanks in Hollywood as "The Man With One Red Shoe." Robert's similarly wacky 1976 film, "An Elephant Can Be Extremely Deceptive," won him further international acclaim, and was remade as "The Woman in Red" in the United States In the 1990, Robert adapted two of Marcel Pagnol's novels: "My Father's Glory" and "My Mother's Castle," tender evocations of childhood that are among his best work. While he wrote and produced most of his films, Robert also acted in many of them, as well as those of other filmmakers. By the time he died in 2002, Robert had directed over 20 features and appeared in over 80 films. His fantastic career was honored at the Cannes Film Festival following his death.