Alain Renoir (October 31, 1921 – December 12, 2008) was a French-American writer and literature professor, son of filmmaker

Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. His '' La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and '' The Rules of the Game'' (1939) are often cited by critics as among the greate ...

and actress Catherine Hessling, and grandson of impressionist painter

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...

. Renoir was born in

Cagnes-sur-Mer Cagnes-sur-Mer (, literally ''Cagnes on Sea''; ) is a French Riviera town near Nice that is in the Alpes-Maritimes department, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in southeastern France. Geography Cagnes-sur-Mer is a town in southeaste ...

, the only son of Jean Renoir. As a teenager Renoir worked in a few of his father's films, including ''House Party'' (1936), as assistant cameraman on '' The Human Beast'' (1938) and ''

The Rules of the Game ''The Rules of the Game'' (original French title: ''La règle du jeu'') is a 1939 French satirical comedy-drama film directed by Jean Renoir. The ensemble cast includes Nora Gregor, Paulette Dubost, Mila Parély, Marcel Dalio, Julien Carett ...

'' (1939). In 1942 he joined his father in the United States, enlisted in the American Army and served in combat in the Pacific. After the war, he studied English literature and comparative literature, earning his PhD from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1956. Renoir became a professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where he founded the Department of Comparative Literature in 1966. He was considered a leading scholar of medieval English literature and published books on ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

'' and

John Lydgate John Lydgate of Bury () was an English monk and poet, born in Lidgate, near Haverhill, Suffolk, Haverhill, Suffolk, England. Lydgate's poetic output is prodigious, amounting, at a conservative count, to about 145,000 lines. He explored and estab ...

and was honored with a ''festschrift'' in 1992 for his scholarly activities. After retiring, Renoir spent his last years running a small sustainable farm in north central California, doing much of the work himself. He had three children, John, Peter and Anne.

References

External links

IMDb database bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Renoir, Alain 1921 births 2008 deaths People from Cagnes-sur-Mer University of California, Berkeley faculty Harvard University alumni French emigrants to the United States Alain