Bernard Weber was a German-born French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his work in the 1950s and 1960s, directing popular French films such as The Adventures of Arsène Lupin (1957), The Great Adventure (1962), and The Cousins (1964).
Weber was born in Munich, Germany in 1920. He left Germany in the late 1930s to avoid Nazi persecution, and settled in Paris, France. There, he studied film under the influential director, Jean Renoir. After World War II, Weber became a director and screenwriter for French films.
Weber's first feature film, The Adventures of Arsène Lupin, was released in 1957 and was a huge hit. It was a light-hearted mystery-adventure film, starring Jean Marais as Arsène Lupin, the fictional master thief. The film was very popular with French audiences, and it launched Weber's career.
Weber went on to make several more popular films, including The Great Adventure (1962), about a group of French youths who embark on an epic journey, and The Cousins (1964), a romantic comedy about two cousins who fall in love. He also directed The Night of the Generals (1967), a WWII drama starring Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif.
In the 1970s, Weber turned his attention to producing television and documentary films. He produced several popular French television series, such as Les Enfants du Soleil (1974) and Les Enfants du Temps (1977). He also worked on several documentaries, including The Story of the Louvre (1978) and The Story of Versailles (1978).
Throughout his career, Weber won several awards for his work. In 1957, he was awarded the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival for The Adventures of Arsène Lupin. In 1965, he won the Best Director Award at the Berlin International Film Festival for The Cousins.
Weber retired from film in the late 1980s and returned to Germany, where he passed away in 2006. He left behind a legacy of popular and influential films, which remain beloved by French audiences today.
