Jeannot Szwarc, the French director known for Jaws 2, Supergirl and The Rockford Files, has died. He was 85.
Jane Seymour, who starred alongside the late Christopher Reeve in Szwarc’s 1980 film Somewhere in Time, announced the director’s death Wednesday with a heartfelt statement on social media.
“Today, we say goodbye to a true visionary,” she wrote on Instagram. “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.”
Producer Jeffrey Kramer, who worked with Szwarc on several titles over the years, wrote on Instagram, “RIP my dear JEANNOT SZWARC One of the finest most talented souls I was privileged to know!”
Born Nov. 21, 1939 in Paris, Szwarc graduated from Harvard University before he began directing episodes of TV shows like Ironside, It Takes a Thief, The Virginian, Columbo, The New Perry Mason, The Six Million Dollar Man, Kojak and The Rockford Files through the 1960s and ’70s.
Roy Scheider and director Jeannot Szwarc on the set of ‘Jaws 2’ (1978) (Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection)
In addition to directing movies like Extreme Close-Up (1973), Bug (1975) Enigma (1982) and Santa Claus: The Movie (1985), Szwarc continued working in television through the decades on JAG, CSI: Miami, Ally McBeal, Smallville, Heroes, Bones, Supernatural, Designated Survivor, Grey’s Anatomy, Fringe, Scandal and Castle.