Jacques Deray’s film-making debut coincided with the French New Wave, but from the outset he saw himself as a director of conventional films – intended to entertain, not to make any profound political or artistic statement.  Whilst Deray’s contribution to French cinema may not have the weighty significance accorded to his New Wave rivals, it includes some of the most successful films to have been made in France, and many of these films have since achieved classic status.  The films for which Deray is best known are his tough crime thrillers (Borsalino , Flic Story, Le Marginal, amongst others), which continued France’s long tradition of classy films policiers well into the 1980s. 

Jacques Deray was born in Lyons, France, on 19th February 1929, the son of an industrialist.  He took an interest in cinema from an early age and, having moved to Paris, he took drama lessons (aged 19).  Eighteen months later he landed his first acting jobs, in the theatre and the cinema.  He then decided that his future career lay on the other side of the camera, and in 1952 he began working as an assistant director (to such luminaries as Jean Boyer, Gilles Grangier, Luis Buñuel and Jules Dassin). 

It was not until 1960 that Jacques Deray made his first film, Le Gigolo, which was followed by Rififi à Tokyo – both films being well-received by the critics.  Even at this early stage in his career, Deray was marked out as a successor to Jean-Pierre Melville (who was regarded by many as the master of the policier genre). 

Deray’s first major success came in 1969 with La Piscine, a slick psychological thriller which reunited two icons of French cinema, Alain Delon and Romy Schneider.  For Deray, this was the first in a string of box office hits and also the beginning of a successful collaboration (and enduring friendship) with Alain Delon.  In total, Delon and Deray worked together on eight films, most of which were hugely successful ( Borsalino, Flic Story, Trois hommes à abattre, etc.).  Deray also worked several times with another iconic actor, Jean-Paul Belmondo, in films which were equally popular (for example, Le Marginal and  Le Solitaire). 

In the course of his film-making career, Jacques Deray worked with some of the biggest names in the French cinema industry, including the much-loved screenwriter Michel Audiard and actors who (in addition to Delon and Belmondo) included Yves Montand, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Lino Ventura and Michel Piccoli.  He directed his final film for cinema (L’Ours en peluche) in 1994.  His last film (Clarissa) was made for French Television in 1997.   Recently, many of Jacques Deray’s films have been released on DVD and are finding a new, possibly much wider market, coinciding with a significantly renewed interest in the policier genre.

For his contribution to French cinema, Jacques Deray was awarded various honours, including Commandeur de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier dans l’ordre National de la Légion d’honneur.  He died on 9th August 2003 at his home in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, after suffering from cancer for several years.