Leading French producer ReneCleitman, who founded the Hachette Premiere empire, died yesterday aged 64.

Specialising in large-budgetand event pictures, Cleitman produced over 20 features including the five-timesOscar nominee Cyrano De Bergerac, Tenue De Soiree, The Horseman On The Roof,Tango, Monsieur Hire and Urga.

He also became the inadvertentvillain of Lost In La Mancha, the documentary about the series ofdisasters which befell Terry Gilliam's attempt to make The Man Who KilledDon Quixote.

Before launching HachettePremiere, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hachette media and missilesconglomerate where he spent some 20 years, Cleitman was director of programmesat Hachette's market-leading commercial radio station Europe 1.

As a producer, Cleitman alsoformed a joint venture company, HPGD, with Gerard Depardieu to make independentAmerican pictures. These included Nick Cassavetes Unhook The Stars and She'sSo Lovely. After leaving Hachette Premiere in 2001 he launched his owncompany Theus Productions which had a deal with Luc Besson's EuropaCorp. Hislast film Jerome Bonnel's Les Yeux Clairs is set to be released in March.

He died in a Paris hospital after an undisclosedillness.