Jean Renoir was a French Film director, producer and actor. He was one of the most famous film makers in France during the mid 1920s. He joined the army as a cavalryman but had to leave because of illness before the beginning of the First World War. Later on he joined the infantry but was wounded and had to leave the infantry too. He next became a pilot in the French air force. After the death of his father who left him with a large inheritance, he started a film production company of his own to make movies for his wife who was a model and an aspiring actress. Both his actress wife and his painter father encouraged Jean to go into films when he was recuperating from a wound from a stray bullet during the war. He started directing films in 1924, acted in some films which starred his wife and also took up the direction of other films produced by others to earn money. During the Second World War Renoir worked in the film unit of the French army and was fortunate to escape from the advancing German troops to Lisbon and then to America when France fell to Germany. His directing talent was due to his uncompromising attitude towards commercial or public conventions and his ability to work in all genres without sacrificing his individuality.