René Chateau, a major distributor of French films from the 1960s and 1970s who built an empire in video cassettes, has died at the age of 84, Éditions René Chateau announced on Wednesday February 14, according to Agence France. Press (AFP). Mr. Chateau died last week of natural causes, according to the same source, which did not want to specify the day of death.
“He opened the doors of dreams and memories for us with his collection of exceptional films: The Memory of French Cinema. We will sorely miss him,” wrote Éditions René Chateau, in a press release sent to AFP, confirming information from Nice-Matin.
Little known to the general public, this secret and controversial businessman was an essential character in the world of the seventh art, long inseparable from Jean-Paul Belmondo. The tandem initially accumulated successes and their exceptionally strong relationship lasted 17 years, before the sudden and total breakup in 1984, over a dispute.
Born in Le Mans in 1940, the man who was a tiler, journalist and even an advertiser established himself as the largest independent distributor of French films at the cost of strong enmities in the industry.
An experienced film buff, in 1995 he published a reference work on “French Cinema under the Occupation” as well as a book “Audiard by Audiard” bringing together the director’s best dialogues, texts and interviews.