Jack Albert Louis Charles Pinoteau, also known as Jack Pinoteau, was a renowned French director and screenwriter, born on September 20, 1923, in Clairefontaine, France, and passed away on April 6, 2017, in Chesnay, France.
Born in 1923 near Paris, Jack Pinoteau came from a family of acrobats, with his father, Lucien, serving as a stage manager. His sister, Jacqueline Pinoteau, also known as Arlette Merry, became a recognized actress, while his younger brother, Claude Pinoteau, went on to become a successful director, famous for his work on the La Boum and La Boum 2 films.
Prior to making his most famous film with Darry Cowl, Jack Pinoteau worked as an assistant director. Alongside his brother, he collaborated on Jean Cocteau's personal film, Le Testament d'Orphée, in 1960.
However, it was his 1957 film, Le Triporteur, that would cement his place in history. A film tailor-made for the comedic talents of Darry Cowl, it featured a cult character, Popeline, played by Béatrice Altariba, who solved everyday worries with contagious good humor and carefree attitude.
After the success of Le Triporteur, Jacques Pinoteau became a specialist in creating humorous films with scripts as light as Darry Cowl's jokes. Fans of B-movies will never forget his films, including Honey, Scare Me (1958),The Lucky Guys (1963),and Me and the Forty-Year-Old Men (1965). Additionally, he co-wrote the screenplay for his brother Claude's film, Snow and Fire (1991).
