Claude Berri, the French producer-director whose rural saga "Jean de Florette" won him international acclaim, died Jan. 12 at age 74.
During his five-decade film career, Berri directed more than 20 movies. The 1986 "Jean de Florette" and its sequel, "Manon of the Spring," were among his biggest hits.
He produced almost 60 films, including two box office successes in his final years.
One was the surprise 2008 hit "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" ("Welcome to the Land of Shtis"), about a man from southern France who warms to the rainy north. The movie sold 4.4 million tickets in its first week, beating all records for a French film.
The other was the 2007 "La Graine et le Mulet" ("The Secret of the Grain"), about an Arab immigrant in Marseille who opens a couscous restaurant after losing his job. Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, the movie swept four Cesar awards -- the French equivalent of the Oscar -- in 2008, including for best director and best film.
Berri was also one of France's best-known art collectors, owning works by Pablo Picasso, Fernand Leger, Salvador Dali and Alberto Giacometti, as well as by living artists such as Richard Serra and Richard Prince. He opened a gallery in Paris last year, the Espace Claude Berri, where he showed works by living artists whose works he owned.
Berri started his art collection three decades ago, buying a gouache by the Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte, which he paid $50,000 for in the early 1970s.
New York art dealer Leo Castelli became his adviser and friend, and Berri made a documentary about him.
