François-Marie Banier

François-Marie Banier (born 27 June 1947) is a French novelist, playwright, artist, actor and photographer. His published works include Le Passé Composé (1971) and Balthazar, Fils de Famille (1985). Banier is particularly known for his photographs of celebrities and other public figures and for his friendships with members of high society. In a prominent legal case, in 2016 he was convicted of 'abuse of weakness' of the elderly billionaire Liliane Bettencourt. Banier was born on June 27, 1947 in Paris, France. A second son, he grew up in a middle-class family in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. He has claimed he had been "completely incomprehensible to [his] parents". Although Banier was brought up as a Catholic, his Hungarian-born fathe...