Jeannot Szwarc (English: zhah-NOH-SHVARTZ, French: [ʒano ʃvarts]; 21 November 1939 – 14 January 2025) was a French director known for his work in American film and television. His film credits included Jaws 2, Somewhere in Time, Supergirl and Santa Claus: The Movie. Szwarc had a prolific career spanning 6 decades before retirement from the industry in France.
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Early life and education
Szwarc was born into a Polish-Jewish family in Paris on 21 November 1939. When the Germans invaded the French capital in 1940, his family fled first to Portugal via Spain and then to Argentina. Returning to France in 1947, Szwarc obtained his scientific baccalauréat at Lycée Claude-Bernard and followed the first year of preparatory classes (classes préparatoires) in mathematics and physics at Lycée Saint-Louis de Gonzague.
