Francois Truffaut

François Truffaut
Truffaut in 1965.
Born	François Roland Truffaut (1932-02-06)6 February 1932 Paris, France
Died	21 October 1984(1984-10-21) (aged 52) Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France
Occupation	Actor, film critic, filmmaker, producer, screenwriter
Years active	1955–1984
Movement	French New Wave
Spouse(s)	Madeleine Morgenstern (1957－1965, 2 daughters)
Partner(s)	Fanny Ardant (1981－1984, 1 daughter)
Children	3 daughters
Parent(s)	Janine de Montferrand Roland Truffaut (stepfather)

François Roland Truffaut (French: [fʁɑ̃.swa ʁɔ.lɑ̃ tʁyfo]; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic, as well as one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry, having worked on over 25 films. Truffaut's film The 400 Blows came to be a defining film of the French New Wave movement. He also directed such classics as Shoot the Piano Player (1960), Jules et Jim (1961), The Wild Child (1970), Two English Girls (1971), Day for Night (1973) and The Woman Next Door (1981).

Truffaut was born in Paris on 6 February 1932. His mother was Janine de Montferrand. His mother's future husband, Roland Truffaut, accepted him as an adopted son and gave him his surname. He was passed around to live with various nannies and his grandmother for a number of years. It was his grandmother who instilled in him her love of books and music. He lived with his grandmother until her death when Truffaut was eight years old. It was only after his grandmother's death that he lived with his parents for the first time. The identity of Truffaut's biological father was unknown, though a private detective agency in 1968 revealed that their inquiry into the matter led to a Roland Levy, a Jewish dentist from Bayonne. Truffaut's mother's family disputed the findings but Truffaut himself believed and embraced them.

Truffaut would often stay with friends and try to be out of the house as much as possible. His best friend throughout his youth and until his death was Robert Lachenay, who was the inspiration for the character René Bigey in The 400 Blows and would work as an assistant on some of Truffaut's films. It was the cinema that offered him the greatest escape from an unsatisfying home life. He was eight years old when he saw his first movie, Abel Gance's Paradis Perdu (Paradise Lost) from 1939. It was there that his obsession began. He frequently played truant from school and would sneak into theaters because he didn't have enough money for admission. After being expelled from several schools, at the age of fourteen he decided to become self-taught. Two of his academic goals were to watch three movies a day and read three books a week.