Jeannot Szwarc

• Born — 21 November 1939 • Birthplace — Paris, Boulogne-Billancourt, France • Died — 14 January 2025 • Place of death — Loches, Centre-Val de Loire, France • Citizenship — France • Education — * Lycée Claude-Bernard • Lycée Saint-Louis de Gonzague • HEC • Other Names — Jean Szwarc • Occupation — Director • Years Active — 1961–2019 • Spouse — * Maud Strand • Cara de Menaul • Children — 2

Szwarc was born into a Polish-Jewish family in Paris on 21 November 1939. When the Germans invaded the French capital in 1940, his family fled first to Portugal via Spain and then to Argentina. Returning to France in 1947, Szwarc obtained his scientific baccalauréat at Lycée Claude-Bernard and followed the first year of preparatory classes (classes préparatoires) in mathematics and physics at Lycée Saint-Louis de Gonzague. Citing ill health, Szwarc was unable to advance to a Mathématiques spéciales class in his second year of classes préparatoires, for the purpose of gaining entry into a Grande École d'Ingénieurs and qualify as an engineer. He settled for HEC, a business school, graduating in 1961 with a Master's degree in management. Contrary to reports, he never studied political science, desired a career in diplomacy or attended Harvard University. At HEC, a work placement in the United States allowed him to discover the country. Szwarc, moreover, created a film society (or ciné-club) at the school which became popular with fellow students. He also directed student avant-garde plays such as Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit. After HEC, keen to develop his passion for cinematography and without any formal training (he never attended film school), Szwarc started to produce short commercial films for an advertising company in Paris.

section In 1962, lured by a career in the film industry, Szwarc abandoned the world of advertising after having secured a job as a production assistant in Stanley Donen's movie Charade, starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, which was shooting in Paris. He continued to work in television as a second unit director and writer/director of short subjects. However, work was limited and hard to find. In 1964, with no connections, and against advice from colleagues, Szwarc left Paris for Los Angeles in search of opportunities, but securing professional jobs in Hollywood was difficult. It was hell…I worked odd jobs like writing scripts for a potato chip commercial. I was the guy who puts the laugh on the laugh tracks of a sitcom. After two and a half years of this, I realized that nobody was going to come along and say "Hey, kid....here's a film to direct".

In late 1966, while filling a low-level role for Universal, Szwarc submitted an internal memo to television producers detailing ideas for new series; one such idea was developed into a 70-page script for a crime drama and became the framework for the series Ironside (starring Raymond Burr). Szwarc was allowed to make his directorial debut on the show, and initial success led to further assignments. During the 1970s, he directed episodes of The Rockford Files, Kojak, Night Gallery, Columbo, The Six Million Dollar Man, and later, It Takes a Thief, Baretta, Ally McBeal, Heroes, The Practice, JAG, Grey's Anatomy, Bones, Castle, Without a Trace, as well as dozens of other series.

Szwarc was called back to Hollywood in the early 2000s, where he resumed his career in television, his forte. In 2003, he joined the crew of The WB/CW television series Smallville as a director. One of the major episodes he directed was "Homecoming", the 200th episode of the series. Moreover, he co-directed, with Miguel Sapochnik, the first episode of the fifth and final season of the science-fiction/crime series Fringe, as well as multiple other episodes of the series throughout its run.

Szwarc was married to actress Maud Strand, who starred in Somewhere in Time (1980). He subsequently divorced and married Cara de Menaul, a film production coordinator, with whom he had two sons, Sacha Szwarc and Stefan Szwarc. Both siblings work in the film industry.

Szwarc died from respiratory failure at Centre Hospitalier de Loches, near Tours, France, on 14 January 2025, at the age of 87.

Jeannot Szwarc is recorded as television producer, writer, film producer, screenwriter and director.