François Truffaut

Date of Birth: 6 February, 1932

Place of Birth: Paris, France

Date of Death: 21 October, 1984

Place of Death: Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Ethnicity:
*biological father – Sephardi Jewish, Ashkenazi Jewish
*mother – French

François Truffaut was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He was one of the founders of the Nouvelle Vague (French New Wave). He directed Jean-Pierre Léaud as Antoine Doinel, somewhat of an alter ego of Truffaut, in his films The 400 Blows, Antoine and Colette, Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board, and Love on the Run.

François’s mother, Janine/Jeannine de Monferrand, married Roland Truffaut after François’s birth. Roland accepted him as an adopted son and gave him his surname, making him François Roland Truffaut. The identity of François’s biological father was unknown to François for much of his life. In 1968, a private detective agency looked into the matter and determined that François’s biological father was a man named Roland Lévy, a dentist, from Bayonne, France, who was Jewish, of Sephardi Jewish and Ashkenazi Jewish descent.

François had two children with his former wife Madeleine Morgenstern; and a daughter with his partner, actress Fanny Ardant. Madeleine was the daughter of Hungarian-born French film producer Ignace Morgenstern.

François’s biological paternal grandfather was Gaston Hyppolyte Jacob Lévy (the son of Brutus David Lévy and Judith Zélie Lévy). Gaston was born in Bayonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Aquitaine. Brutus was the son of Joseph Mardoché/Mardochée Lévy Alvares and Judith Aimée Dacosta. François’s great-grandmother Judith was the daughter of Hypolite Jacob Lévy and Rebecca Lopes Silva.

François’s paternal grandmother was named Berthe Kahn.

François’s maternal grandfather was Jean Marie Albert de Monferrand/Montferrand (the son of Albert Louis Jean de Monferrand and Jeanne Marie Escallier). François’s grandfather Jean was born in Versailles, Yvelines, Île-de-France. Louis was the son of Félix Léonce de Monferrand and Laure Saint-Pol. François’s great-grandmother Jeanne was the daughter of Eugène Alexis Escallier and Félicité Léonie Degalle.

François’s maternal grandmother was named Geneviève Denise Marguerite Anne Jeanne Saint Martin.

Sources: Genealogies of François Truffaut – https://www.geni.com
https://gw.geneanet.org
https://gw.geneanet.org

Obituary of François Truffaut – http://www.nytimes.com