Claude Renoir

Apprenticed under noted cinematographers Christian Matras and Boris Kaufman and shot or co-shot several films directed by his uncle, Jean Renoir. Renoir did the photography for one of his uncle's cinematic apogees, _Une partie de campagne (1936)_ and was the camera operator for the tragic, ebullient master text The Grand Illusion (1937). As a cinematographer, Claude Renoir was responsible for the luminous color work of The River (1951), _Carrosse d'or, Le (1952)_ and Elena and Her Men (1956). He also generated the stark black-and-white compositions of Maurice Cloche's Monsieur Vincent (1947) and the psychedelic 60s colors of Roger Vadim's Barbarella (1968). Renoir lensed a stunning array of films, including The Mystery of Picasso (1956), Cleopatra (1963) and Bertrand Blier's Femmes Fatales (1976). After his final DP credit, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Renoir worked as a cameraman on three films as he, sadly, lost his sight. Son of character actor Pierre Renoir.