Claude Jaeger

Claude Jaeger (April 2, 1917 – September 16, 2004) was a Swiss-born French film producer and actor.

Life and career

Claude Jaeger was born on April 2, 1917, in Geneva, Switzerland, where he attended the International School of Geneva. He later pursued his studies in Paris and briefly worked at the Ministry of Finance, but was interrupted by World War II and he served in the French Army. After the 1940 armistice with Nazi Germany, he joined the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) at the suggestion of Manuel Azcárate, a Spanish communist in exile in France after the Republican defeat in the Spanish Civil War. After the collapse of the Nazi-Soviet alliance, Germans began rounding up the exiled Spaniards in France in 1941. Jaeger and other communists sought refuge in the Zone libre (free zone) in the southern section of Vichy France in 1942. He also began to discover his interest in the film industry and worked as an assistant director. In the Zone Libre, Jaeger met Gillo Pontecorvo, an Italian filmmaker and fellow communist, and joined the Italian Communist Party (PCI). By 1943, Jaeger also worked with the information service of the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP), the communist arm of the French Resistance. His codename / pseudonym was "Michelin" and he was given a rank of colonel, and served in the FTP until the war's end. Jaeger briefly worked under General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny's forces in 1945 after the FTP was merged with the Free French army. Afterward he joined the (OPC), the French regulator of cinema, which soon shed its Vichy origin by changing into the modern Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CPC) in 1946. He worked as a production manager there until 1950, when his political leanings saw him dismissed. The French Communist Party (PCF) put Jaeger in charge of Procinex, a corporation that would create short films for left-wing audiences and for the Soviet sphere of influence. As these films were commissioned by a political party, they tended to aim more for the educational, inspirational, and/or propaganda style rather than as pure entertainment.

Jaeger died on September 16, 2004, in Paris.

Filmography Producer 1956 : Cela s'appelle l'aurore, Luis Buñuel (This is Called Dawn) 1961 : Une aussi longue absence, Henri Colpi (The Long Absence) 1962 : La Poupée, Jacques Baratier (The Doll) 1962 : Le Diable et les Dix Commandements, Julien Duvivier (The Devil and the Ten Commandments) 1964 : Une souris chez les hommes, Jacques Poitrenaud (A Mouse with the Men) 1964 : La Chasse à l'homme, Édouard Molinaro (Man Hunting) 1966 : La Voleuse, Jean Chapot (The Thief) 1967 : Le Mur, Serge Roullet (The Wall) 1974 : La Femme aux bottes rouges, Juan Luis Buñuel (The Woman with Red Boots) 1982 : T'es folle ou quoi?, Michel Gérard (Are you crazy or what?)

Actor 1961 : Un nommé La Rocca, Jean Becker : Fernand (A Man Named Rocca) 1964 : Le Journal d'une femme de chambre, Luis Buñuel : The judge (Diary of a Chambermaid) 1971 : , Jacques Baratier : The promoter 1972 : Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie, Luis Buñuel (The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie) 1977 : Cet obscur objet du désir, Luis Buñuel : Bar owner (That Obscure Object of Desire) 1978 : Perceval le Gallois, Éric Rohmer : Thiebaut of Tintaguel 1986 : Max mon amour, Nagisa Oshima : Zoologist (Max, My Love) 1992 : , Henri Graziani : Tancrède (Us two)

Director 1967 : Le Rouge et le Bleu (short film) (The Red and the Blue)