Alexandre Tarta

(1928 - 2023)

Alexandre Tarta, born June 1, 1928 in Moscow and died March 16, 2023 in Sèvres, was a French television director. Alongside Pierre Tchernia, Pierre Cardinal, Claude Sautet, and Jean-Pierre Gredy, Alexandre Tarta belonged to the 4th class of the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques (IDHEC). In 1951, after a brief stint as a film assistant, he joined television on the advice of Pierre Tchernia. Alexandre Tarta was one of the pioneers of television, along with René Lucot, Pierre Badel, Claude Loursais, and Pierre Tchernia. Until 1954, he mainly produced reports and game shows. From 1955 onward, he began applying new techniques that made it possible to broadcast live from anywhere (a submarine, the Aiguille du Midi, the aircraft carrier Le Clemenceau, and Le France). Thus, in 1967, he was entrusted with producing ORTF's very first color broadcast. Alexandre Tarta was responsible for the launches of Apollo 14 and Apollo 15 in 1971 and Apollo 16 in 1972 for European television. In the mid-1980s, Alexandre Tarta became interested in recording and broadcasting plays. In the 1980s, he returned to game and variety shows.