Jeannot Szwarc: Jane Seymour pays tribute to a 'true visionary' of film
A film giant behind many blockbusters and famed TV series has died.
French-American director Jeannot Szwarc was 87. He directed Jaws 2, Supergirl, Santa Claus: The Movie and the 1980 romantic fantasy Somewhere in Time, which starred Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve.
He also took charge of shows including Smallville, Grey’s Anatomy, Ally McBeal, CSI, Bones, Supernatural, The Twilight Zone and Kojak, among many more.
Szwarc died on Tuesday of respiratory failure in hospital in Loches, France, his son Sacha Szwarc, a film editor, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Jane Seymour, who played Elise McKenna in Somewhere in Time, paid tribute to him, saying: “Today, we say goodbye to a true visionary. Jeannot Szwarc was not just a brilliant director but a kind and generous soul. He gifted us many timeless stories, including Somewhere in Time, a film that changed my life forever. May his memory be a blessing, and may his artistry live on in our hearts.”
Szwarc was born into a Polish-Jewish family in Paris in 1939, who had to flee when the Germans invaded the French capital in 1942. From Portugal they went to Argentina, and he returned to France in 1947. After becoming fascinated by the film industry, Szwarc moved to Los Angeles in 1962.