Filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier, who made ‘A Sunday in the Country’ and ‘Round Midnight,’ dies at 79

PARIS — French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier, who directed acclaimed movies such “A Sunday in the Country,” “Captain Conan” and “Round Midnight,” has died, according to his family. He was 79.

Tavernier’s wife and children said Thursday that he died in Sainte-Maxime, located in France’s southerly Var region. The Lyon-born director left behind a legacy of 30 films that included performances by stars of French cinema such as Romy Schneider, Isabelle Huppert and Dirk Bogarde.

Tributes for Tavernier and his work came from far and wide. Former French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said Tavernier’s films “will remain masterpieces of French cinema.”

Born April 25, 1941, Tavernier wore various caps during his career in cinema. He worked as an assistant director, press officer and critic before he began his turn at directing. It proved to be the decision of his life.

He first found success with 1974’s “The Watchmaker of St. Paul,” and 1976’s “The Judge and the Assassin” won two César Awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscars. The 1990 movie “Daddy Nostalgia” was famous for being Bogarde’s final screen role.

Although Tavernier was less well-known in the English-speaking world, his 1987 feature film about a fictional musician, “Round Midnight,” won Herbie Hancock an Oscar for best original score. Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert wrote of the film, “You do not need to know a lot about jazz to appreciate what is going on because, in a certain sense, this movie teaches you everything about jazz that you really need to know.”

Tavernier was married to the late French-Irish screenwriter Claudine O’Hagan, better known as Colo Tavernier, from 1965 to 1980. They had two children together: writer Tiffany Tavernier and director and actor Nils Tavernier.

Colo Tavernier wrote the screenplay for several of her husband’s films and won the César for best adaptation for “A Sunday in the Country” in 1985.