Marco Ferreri (11 May 1928 – 9 May 1997) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor. He was born in Milan and died in Paris of a myocardial infarction. Upon his death, Gilles Jacob, artistic director of the Cannes International Film Festival, said: The Italian cinema has lost one of its most original artists, one of its most personal authors (...) No one was more demanding nor more allegorical than he in showing the state of crisis of contemporary man. His best known film is La Grande Bouffe, starring Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret and Ugo Tognazzi.