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Jacques Deray (February 19, 1929 in Lyon – August 9, 2003 Boulogne-Billancourt) was a French film director and screenwriter. Deray is prominently known for directing many crime and thriller films. Born Jacques Desrayaud in Lyon, France in 1929 to a family of Lyons industrialists. At the age of 12 he went to Paris to study drama under René Simon. Deray played in minor roles on the stage and in films from the age of 19. From 1952, Deray worked as assistant to a number of directors, including Luis Buñuel, Gilles Grangier, Jules Dassin, and Jean Boyer. Deray's first film was the drama Le... MORE

Jacques Deray (February 19, 1929 in Lyon – August 9, 2003 Boulogne-Billancourt) was a French film director and screenwriter. Deray is prominently known for directing many crime and thriller films. Born Jacques Desrayaud in Lyon, France in 1929 to a family of Lyons industrialists. At the age of 12 he went to Paris to study drama under René Simon. Deray played in minor roles on the stage and in films from the age of 19. From 1952, Deray worked as assistant to a number of directors, including Luis Buñuel, Gilles Grangier, Jules Dassin, and Jean Boyer. Deray's first film was the drama Le Gigolo released in 1960. Deray was fascinated by American film noir and began to focus on crime stories. Deray's early work includes Du rififi à Tokyo, an homage to Jules Dassin's Rififi. Deray's reputation was established with the 1969 film La Piscine which starred Romy Schneider and Alain Delon. La Piscine was not distributed widely outside France, but the follow-up gave Deray his biggest international hit with Borsalino, a film starring Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo about two small-time gangsters who murder their way to the top in bustling 1930s Marseilles. Deray became dedicated to the genre that LESS