Michel Drach
Michel Drach (18 October 1930 in Paris – 14 February 1990 in Paris) was a French film director, writer, producer and actor.
Michel Drach

Pierre-Yves Beaudouin · Pierre-Yves Beaudouin / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Full name
- Michel Philippe Drach.
- Born
- 1930. · 3rd arrondissement of Paris.
- Died
- 1990. · Neuilly-sur-Seine.
- Nationality
- France.
- Occupation
- screenwriter, film producer, actor and director.
- Known for
- Violins at the Ball, Le pull-over rouge, Elise and or Real Life.
- Honours
- Louis Delluc Prize.
- Languages
- French.
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Documentary summary
Michel Drach (18 October 1930 in Paris – 14 February 1990 in Paris) was a French film director, writer, producer and actor.
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wikipedia incomplete · checked 25 September 2026
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
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- Admitted assertions
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Authority files
wikidata · Q530783 · wikipedia · Michel Drach
In this article
Life and career
Life and career
The recorded working language is French. Places of work recorded in the authority are France. Works named in the authority record are Violins at the Ball, Le pull-over rouge and Elise, or Real Life. Distinctions recorded are Louis Delluc Prize.
Drach was born in Paris, France, the son of Yvonne (Vanderheym) and Maurice Drach. His family was Jewish. After studying painting at the Académie des Beaux-Arts, he became involved in cinema as an assistant to his cousin Jean-Pierre Melville. He directed three short films under his production company Port Royal Films, including the Poor Man's Soliloquies (1951) and Auditorium (1957), then made his feature film debut with On n'enterre pas le dimanche (1959), a study on the existential solitude of a black person in Paris, which coincided with the French New Wave and earned him the Louis Delluc Prize. He married Marie-José Nat who starred in his 1961 film Amelie or The Time to Love, a film which further displayed his humanism. He returned to auteur cinema with Elise, or Real Life in 1970, which tells the story of a Frenchwoman, his wife Nat, in love with an Algerian at the time of the Algerian War. Violins at the Ball which evoked his Jewish childhood during the Occupation of France also starred his wife who received a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress. Le Pull-over Rouge (1979) was a chronicle of what he presents as a miscarriage of justice. Tell Me About Love (1975), Le Passé simple, and Guy de Maupassant (1982), confirmed his appeal for psychological intrigue. The latter was an expensive flop. In 1986, with Sauve-toi, Lola, he tackled the theme of cancer, then the relationship between grandfather and grandson in Il est Génial Papy! (1987). He had three children with Nat - David, Julien and Aurélien.
Selected filmography
Selected filmography
No Burials on Sunday (1960) Amelie or The Time to Love (1961) fr:Les Compagnons de Jéhu (mini-série) (in French, after the eponymous novel by Alexandre Dumas) (1966) Elise, or Real Life (1970) Violins at the Ball (1974) Speak to Me of Love (1975) The Simple Past (1977)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1990
Michel Drach died at Neuilly-sur-Seine.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
3rd arrondissement of Paris.
Birth place
Neuilly-sur-Seine.
Death place
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.J. Lafitte. Who's who in France. 1989. 9782857840244.
- 2.Plaut, Gilles. Cimetière du Père-Lachaise: Division israélite. Cercle de généalogie juive. 1999. 9782912785121.
- 3.Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. HarperCollins. 391. 1998. 0-333-74037-8.
- 4.Obituaries. Variety. 352. February 21, 1990.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
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Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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