Robert Frank "Bob" Swaim, Jr. (born November 2, 1943) is an American film director. Life and career Swaim was born in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Eleanor (Connor) and Robert Frank Swaim. He grew up in the Reseda area of Los Angeles and graduated from Reseda High School in 1961. He received a degree in anthropology from California State University, Northridge, then called San Fernando Valley State College, in 1965. Swaim then went to France to work on his doctorate in ethnology. He studied at the Collège de France with Claude Lévi-Strauss and at L'École des Langues Orientales with Georges Ballandier. However, spending most of his free time at the French Cinématheque, he quickly became interested in filmmaking, dropped out of his doctoral program and entered l'École Nationale de la Cinématographie et la Photographie, later known as École Nationale Supérieure Louis-Lumière. After graduating in 1970, Swaim spent most of the following decade writing and directing documentaries and commercials. Unable to break into the closed world of feature films, he founded, along with several other young filmmakers, a film company to produce their own films. During the few years of their existence, they produced over fifty theatrical short films of young filmmakers, including three short films that Swaim wrote, directed and produced. The three films won numerous international prizes and awards and enabled Swaim to write and direct his first feature film, La Nuit de Saint Germain des Prés (1977) starring Michel Galabru, Mort Shuman, and, for the first time on screen, Daniel Auteuil. The film marked the re-discovery of a long forgotten French writer, Leo Malet, and introduced his character Nestor Burma to a new generation of mystery fans. The La Nuit de Saint Germain des Prés, shown at the Director's Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival, was a critical success but a box office failure, and it was four years before Swaim directed his next feature, La Balance. La Balance not only was one of the biggest box office successes in the history of French cinema, but it changed the face of the French police film. Le Monde wrote, "Avec La Balance, Bob Swaim a réinventé le film policier" ("With La Balance, Bob Swaim has reinvented the police film"). The film received eight César Award nominations, winning Best Picture, Best Actor (Philippe Léotard), and Best Actress (Nathalie Baye). La Balance became an international success and led to Swaim's first