Charles Spaak

Flemish screenwriter, in France from 1928. Spaak served as secretary to director Jacques Feyder before contributing scripts to his films, beginning with the effervescent satire, "Les Nouveaux Messieurs" (1928), and went on to write for such directors as Jean Renoir ("Grand Illusion" 1937) and Julien Duvivier ("The End of a Day" 1939), establishing himself as one of the more significant figures of French "poetic realism." Spaak also lent his talents to the works of Andre Cayatte and in 1949 directed his one and only film, "Le Mystere Barton" (1949). Father of actresses Agnes and Catherine Spaak.