Roman Polanski

Known for DirectingBorn 1933-08-18 (age 92)Paris, France

Roman Polański (born 18 August 1933) is a Polish-French film director, producer, writer and actor. Born in Paris to Polish parents, Polański relocated with his family to Poland in 1937. After surviving the Holocaust, he continued his education in Poland and became a critically acclaimed director of both art house and commercial films. Polański's first feature-length film, Knife in the Water (1962), made in Poland, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He has since received five more Oscar nominations, and in 2002 received the Academy Award for Best Director for his film, The Pianist. He has also been the recipient of two Baftas, four Césars, a Golden Globe and the Palme d'Or. He left Poland in 1961 to live in France for several years, then moved to the United Kingdom where he collaborated with Gérard Brach on three films, beginning with Repulsion (1965). In 1968 he moved to the United States, immediately cementing his burgeoning directing status with the 1968 groundbreaking Academy Award winning horror film Rosemary's Baby. In 1969, Polański's pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered while staying at the Polańskis' Benedict Canyon home above Los Angeles by members of the Manson Family. Following Tate's death, Polański returned to Europe and spent much of his time in Paris and Gstaad, but did not make another film until he filmed Macbeth (1971) in England. The following year he went to Italy to make What? (1973) and subsequently spent the next five years living near Rome. However, he traveled to Hollywood to direct Chinatown (1974) for Paramount Pictures, with Robert Evans serving as producer. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, and was a critical and box-office success; the script by Robert Towne won for Best Original Screenplay. Polański's next film, The Tenant (1976), was shot in France, and completed the "Apartment Trilogy", following Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby. In 1977, after a photo shoot in Los Angeles, Polański was arrested for the sexual abuse of a 13 year old girl. He was charged with rape but pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor. To avoid sentencing, Polański fled to his home in London, and then moved on to France the following day. He has had a U.S. arrest warrant outstanding since then, and an international arrest warrant since 2005. Polański continued to make films such as The Pianist (2002), a World War II-set adaptation of Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman's autobiography of the same name, which echoed some of Polański's earlier life experiences. Like Szpilman, Polański escaped the ghetto and the concentration camps while family members were killed. The film won three Academy Awards including Best Director, the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or, and seven French César Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. He then released the successful films Oliver Twist (2005), To Each His Own Cinema (2007), and The Ghost Writer (2010), completed while under house arrest. In September 2009, Polański was arrested by Swiss police, at the request of U.S. authorities, when he traveled to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival. In October 2009, the U.S. requested his extradition; however, on July 12, 2010, the Swiss rejected that request and instead declared him a "free man" after releasing him from custody.Read more

Movies & web series

Un film et son époque

Dracula in the Movies

Na siehste!

Close Up

Spécial cinéma

Filming 'Tess'

Elle s'appelait Françoise

7 sur 7

Tess: The Experience

The Pianist

The Unbeatable Bruce Lee

The Ten Commandments of Creativity

Apostrophes

Françoise Dorléac, from The Man from Rio to The Young Girls of Rochefort

E! True Hollywood Story

Le court des grands

Tess: From Novel to Screen

Knife in the Water: A Ticket to the West

Polanski y los ojos del mal

Deneuve, la reine Catherine

Light Keeps Me Company

Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story

Komeda: A Soundtrack for a Life

The Playboy Murders

Le Grand Échiquier

Chinatown

Two Gangsters and an Island

Rosemary's Baby

The Tenant

Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans

Venus in Fur

A Pure Formality

Catherine Deneuve, belle et bien là

Carnage

An Officer and a Spy

Kanal

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The River of Diamonds

Breakdown: 1975

Leçon de Cinéma

Bitter Moon

Repulsion

Death and the Maiden

Weekend of a Champion

The Ghost Writer

Helter Skelter: An American Myth

Knife in the Water