Jacques Perrin, star of Cinema Paradiso and Z, dies at 80

Jacques Perrin, a prolific French actor, director, and producer who starred in such world-renowned films as Cinema Paradiso and Z, has died. He was 80 years old.

His son Mathieu Simonet announced the news in a statement to Agence France Press.

"It is with immense sadness that we announce the passing of filmmaker Jacques Perrin, who died Thursday, April 21, in Paris," the statement reads. "He died peacefully at the age of 80." No cause of death was disclosed.

Born Jacques André Simonet in Paris in 1941, Perrin acted in his first movie role at the age of 5 and went on to star in more than 70 films over the course of his career. He appeared alongside famed European actors of the time like Claudia Cardinale (1961's Girl With a Suitcase), Marcello Mastroianni (1962's Family Diary), and Catherine Deneuve (1967's The Young Girls of Rochefort and 1970's Donkey Skin, both directed by Jacques Demy).

In addition to acting, Perrin also produced films like the Oscar-winning 1969 film Z, which was directed by Costa-Gavras and dramatized the real-life assassination of a left-wing Greek politician before a military junta took over the country (Perrin played the photojournalist searching for the truth). Perrin went on to produce two more of Costa-Gavras' politically themed films — 1972's State of Siege and 1975's Special Section — though he did not act in them.

In later years, Perrin played the older versions of protagonists in coming-of-age films. His starred as Salvatore, an adult filmmaker who reflects on his childhood, in Giuseppe Tornatore's 1988 Oscar-winning Cinema Paradiso and as a conductor in 2004's The Chorus, a box-office hit in France that was directed by his nephew Christophe Barratier.

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