François Roland Truffaut (February 6, 1932 – October 21, 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic, widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After beginning his career as a critic for Cahiers du Cinéma, he made his directorial breakthrough with The 400 Blows (1959), a landmark of world cinema. His acclaimed filmography includes Jules and Jim (1962), Fahrenheit 451 (1966), Day for Night (1973), and The Last Metro (1980). He also appeared as actor Claude Lacombe in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), his only major acting role in an American film. Truffaut remains one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema.