Mag Bodard (3 January 1916 – 26 February 2019) was an Italian-born French film producer, known for ''

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg ''The Umbrellas of Cherbourg'' (french: Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) is a 1964 musical romantic drama film written and directed by Jacques Demy, with music and lyrics by Michel Legrand. Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo star as two young l ...

'', ''

Donkey Skin ''Donkeyskin'' (french: Peau d'Âne) is a French fairytale fantasy, literary fairytale written in verse by Charles Perrault. It was first published in 1695 in a small volume and republished in 1697 in Perrault's ''Histoires ou contes du temps pa ...

'', and ''

The Young Girls of Rochefort ''The Young Girls of Rochefort'' (french: Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, lit=The Young Ladies of Rochefort) is a 1967 French Musical film, musical comedy film written and directed by Jacques Demy. The ensemble cast is headlined by real-life sisters ...

''.

Life

Bodard was born in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

as Margherita Maria Renata Perato. She was a journalist working for women's magazine ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

'' before going into film producing. In 1962 she married the reporter Lucien Bodard, whom she had met in southeast Asia, and the two subsequently moved to Paris. Through his contacts she became an editor for the newspaper ''

France-Soir ''France Soir'' ( en, France Evening) was a French newspaper that prospered in physical format during the 1950s and 1960s, reaching a circulation of 1.5 million in the 1950s. It declined rapidly under various owners and was relaunched as a popul ...

,'' where she began an affair with its owner Pierre Lazareff. Bodard's first film was '' The Dance'' in 1962. Two years later she produced the musical ''

'', which won the

Palm d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. The film was also nominated for two

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

s, a

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

, and a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

. Bodard would go on to produce several dozen more films and worked with renowned directors such as

Agnès Varda Agnès Varda (; born Arlette Varda; 30 May 1928 – 29 March 2019) was a Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter, photographer, and artist. Her pioneering work was central to the development of the widely influential French New Wave film ...

on Le Bonheur, Jean-Luc Goddard on ''

2 or 3 Things I Know About Her ''Two or Three Things I Know About Her'' (french: Deux ou trois choses que je sais d'elle) is a 1967 French New Wave film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, one of three features he completed that year. As with the other two (''La Chinoise ...

'' and ''

La Chinoise ''La Chinoise, ou plutôt à la Chinoise: un film en train de se faire'' (English: ''The Chinese, or, rather, in the Chinese manner: a film in the making''), commonly referred to simply as ''La Chinoise'', is a 1967 French political film directed b ...

'', Robert Bresson on ''

Au Hasard Balthazar ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' (; meaning "Balthazar, at Random"), also known as ''Balthazar'', is a 1966 French drama film directed by Robert Bresson. Believed to be inspired by a passage from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1868–69 novel ''The Idiot'', the film ...

'' and ''

A Gentle Woman ''A Gentle Woman'' (french: Une femme douce) is a 1969 French tragedy film directed by Robert Bresson. It is Bresson's first film in color, and adapted from Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1876 short story "A Gentle Creature" (russian: Кроткая, tra ...

,'' and

Alain Resnais Alain Resnais (; 3 June 19221 March 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct a number of short films which included ...

on ''

Je t'aime, je t'aime ''Je t'aime, je t'aime'' ("I Love You, I Love You") is a 1968 French science fiction film directed by Alain Resnais from a screenplay by Jacques Sternberg. The plot centres on Claude Ridder (Claude Rich) who is asked to participate in a mysteri ...

''. She promoted the careers of actors such as

Maurice Pialat Maurice Pialat (; 31 August 1925 – 11 January 2003) was a French film director, screenwriter and actor known for the rigorous and unsentimental style of his films. His work is often described as " realist",

Nina Companeez Nina Companeez (26 August 1937 – 9 April 2015) was a French screenwriter and film director. Nina Companeez was the younger daughter of Russian Jewish émigré screenwriter Jacques Companéez and younger sister of contralto Irène Companee ...

, and

Claude Miller Claude Miller (20 February 1942 – 4 April 2012) was a French film director, producer and screenwriter. Life and career Claude Miller was born to a Jewish family. A student at Paris' IDHEC film school from 1962 through 1963, Miller had his fi ...

. She opened her own production company Parc Films, which ran from 1963 to 1972, and was supported by Lazareff. The company was dissolved after Lazareff died. In 1977 she shifted from cinema to television. She produced her last television film, ''Inconnue de la départementale'', in 2006 at the age of ninety. In 2005, a documentary about her life, ''Mag Bodard, un destin'', was directed by

Anne Wiazemsky Anne Wiazemsky (14 May 1947 – 5 October 2017) was a French actress and novelist. She made her cinema debut at the age of 18, playing Marie, the lead character in Robert Bresson's ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' (1966), and went on to appear in several ...

. She celebrated her hundredth birthday in 2016. She died in

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...

at the age of 103.

Selected filmography

* 1962: '' The Dance'' * 1964: ''

'' * 1965: ''

Happiness Happiness, in the context of Mental health, mental or emotional states, is positive or Pleasure, pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishin ...

'' * 1966: ''

'' * 1967: ''

Two or Three Things I Know About Her ''Two or Three Things I Know About Her'' (french: Deux ou trois choses que je sais d'elle) is a 1967 French New Wave film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, one of three features he completed that year. As with the other two (''La Chinoise ...

'' * 1967: ''

'' * 1968: ''

Benjamin Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

'' * 1968: ''

'' * 1969: ''

'' * 1970: '' La maison des Bories'' * 1970: ''

'' * 1979: ''Les Dames de la côte'' (TV miniseries) * 1989: ''La Grande Cabriole'' (TV miniseries) * 2006: ''Inconnue de la départementale''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bodard, Mag 1916 births 2019 deaths French centenarians French film producers Women centenarians French women film producers Italian emigrants to France Film people from Turin French television producers Women television producers