Born in 1941 in Chambéry, in France’s Savoy region, Daniel Toscan du Plantier began his career in the press. He was appointed Advertising Director at France Soir in 1969, then went on to become General Manager at Régie Presse. In 1975 he joined the management of Gaumont, alongside Nicolas Seydoux. In ten years he initiated more than one hundred films, as diverse as "Cousin, Cousine" by Jean-Charles Tachella (1975), "Don Giovanni" by Joseph Losey (1979), "City of Women" by Federico Fellini (1980), "Danton" by Andrzej Wajda (1983), "Fanny and Alexander" by Ingmar Bergman (1983), "Carmen" by Francesco Rosi (1984) and "Loulou"(1980), "To Our Loves" (1983), "Under Satan’s Sun" (1987) and "Van Gogh" (1991), by Maurice Pialat, among others. President of Unifrance (the French association responsible for promoting French films abroad) from 1988, Vice President of the Supervisory Board of the television channel Arte from 1991, President of the "Académie des Césars du Cinéma" from 1992, President of the Toulouse Cinematheque from 1996, Daniel Toscan du Plantier was also President of the Marrakech International Film Festival (founded in 2000). In recent years, Toscan du Plantier participated in the revising of Sacha Guitry’s work for film and television, in collaboration with leading French movie actors (such as Jean-Paul Belmondo, Michel Serrault and Philippe Noiret). He also participated in the production of "La Dilettante" by Pascal Thomas (1999) and "The Marcorelle Affair" by Serge Le Péron, starring Jean-Pierre Léaud. Among his most recent productions, we can mention the film/opera "Tosca," directed by Benoît Jacquot, "Mercredi, folle journée!" by Pascal Thomas and the latest film by Pierre Schoendoerffer, "Là-haut," (released in 2003). Daniel Toscan du Plantier is the author of a number of books, including "L’émotion culturelle," published in 1995. Daniel Toscan du Plantier died February 11, 2003, after suffering a heart attack in Berlin, where he was attending the Berlin International Film Festival.