Toscan du Plantier
French cinema was in mourning Tuesday following the sudden death of its international ambassador, Daniel Toscan du Plantier, 61.
The Unifrance prexy was at the Berlin Intl. Film Festival when he suffered a massive heart attack Tuesday afternoon.
His death cast a pall over the Berlin festivities, which he had been enthusiastically taking part in.
He attended the Monday night screening of Claude Chabrol's "La Fleur du Mal" along with French culture minister Jean Jacques Aillagon, and Centre National de la Cinematographie director David Kessler.
Toscan du Plantier had been due to watch the screening of Patrice Chereau's in-competition "His Brother."
"Everyone is in shock," Chereau said. "I liked him very much, he was a friend. And in his work, travelling all over the world to promote French cinema, he will be irreplaceable. It is the end of an era."
A number of those who had been with Toscan du Plantier -- including "La Fleur du Mal" star Nathalie Baye -- were too upset to speak Tuesday.
But there was a deluge of tributes for a man who, in a career spanning three decades, headed production at Gaumont before going on to discover a natural calling as French cinema's spokesman.
Born on April 7, 1941, in Chambery in the Savoie region of France, Toscan du Plantier rose to prominence in the Gallic film biz when Nicholas Seydoux, a friend from their days at Sciences Po political science school, hired him as managing director of Gaumont.
He held the position between 1975 and 1984, putting high art before commerce as he oversaw the production of an array of classics that includes Ingmar Bergman's "Fanny and Alexander," Federico Fellini's "The City of Women" and "Casanova," Andrei Tarkovski's "The Mirror," Maurice Pialat's "A Nos Amours" and Francois Truffaut's "The Last Metro."
When he left Gaumont he received the classical music label Erato, that he had established at the company, as a parting gift.
But the already endebted Erato didn't make money and was eventually bought out by Time Warner.
He later founded his own company, combining his love of music and cinema by producing prestige opera movies, such as Benoit Jacquot's "Tosca."
A suave political operator, Toscan du Plantier always had several irons in the fire. He headed the Cesars -- France's equivalent of the Oscars which are due to take place on February 22 -- launched the Marrakech Film Festival, and quietly but persistently lobbed the French government to build closer cinematic links with Germany.
A loyal and outspoken defender of French cinema and its often-criticized subsidy system, Toscan du Plantier wrote an article in the Communist daily L'Humanité on the subject last year when Vivendi Universal topper Jean-Marie Messier attacked France's "cultural exception."
Toscan du Plantier was a charmer who had a long-term affair with thesp Isabelle Huppert, and was married to Marie-Christine Barrault.
His personal life hit the headlines in 1996 when the battered body of his wife, Sophie, was found on a remote road near the cottage where she lived in Ireland. Irish police recently re-opened the unsolved murder investigation. He married his present wife, Melitta, in 1998.
Berlinale fest director, Dieter Kosslick, with whom he had been friends for many years, said Tuesday: "He wasn't only an important supporter and friend of European cinema. His death is a big loss to all of us."
For French culture minister Jean Jacques Aillagon he was "one of the most outstanding and most endearing figures on the French cultural scene."
Alain Delon said his death left him "speechless." "We had known each other for more than 40 years. We owe the development and fame of French cinema to him. He was one of the family."
Key Gallic cinema folk agreed to go ahead with an official French dinner at the Berlinale Dining Club.
Organizers of the Cesars will meet today to discuss possible modifications to next week's ceremony.
He leaves his wife, Melitta, and five children from different relationships.
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