Jacques Baratier(1918-2009)

French director, the son of a banker and a former law student. Had intended to become a painter or a poet. Began in 1949 with making documentaries. At the Cannes film festival in 1958, he won the Jury Prize for "Goha", a Tunisian-French co-production which featured a 20-year old Claudia Cardinale in her motion picture debut and launched Omar Sharif to stardom. Baratier's other films of note were the political parable "La Poupée" (1962) and the musical spoof "Dragées au Poivre" (1963).