William Klein

Klein's debut film, "Broadway By Light" (1958), is a strikingly smooth montage of Times Square luminosity, shot in vivid color; the frenetic, vibrant tone of the film coerced Louis Malle to enlist Klein's aid in the making of his no-holds-barred Parisian romp "Zazie dans le metro" (1960). Klein then made a series of documentaries for TV, including "Cassius le Grand" (1964), a portrait of the upstart, soon-to-be boxing star; a decade later Klein made an additional filmic portrait of the now-dethroned boxer, "Muhammad Ali--The Greatest" (1974), chronicling his bout with George Forman in Zaire. The director's fiction feature debut, the superbly satiric expose of the fashion industry, "Who Are You Polly Magoo?" (1966), was followed by the far our "Mr. Freedom" (1968) and more documentaries, including "Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther" (1970) and "The French" (1982), about the 1981 Grand Slam tennis event at Roland Garros.