Claude Barma (3 November 1918, in Nice – 30 August 1992, in Paris), was a French[1] director and screenwriter, and an early creator of French television programmes.
After studying electrical engineering, he entered television in 1946 with the drama Chambre 34, his directorial debut.
On 24 February 1950, he produced the first live French television show by transmitting part of Marivaux's Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard and the Comédie-Française.
His first series followed in 1950, Agence Nostradamus, which was also the first series on French television.
In 1955, he staged a trial court scripted by Peter Desgraupes and Dumayet Peter (producers of the series). En votre âme et conscience was an original series, designed for small-screen drama, taking place entirely in a court where the camera filmed uninterrupted.
In 1959, the television drama Les Trois Mousquetaires was adapted by Barma for live transmission, with the role of D'Artagnan played by the young Jean-Paul Belmondo, who would later be known for his roles in À bout de souffle and Classe tous risques.
In the early 1960s, he adapted three Shakespeare plays: Macbeth in 1959, Hamlet in 1960 and Othello in 1962 .
In 1967, Les Enquêtes du commissaire Maigret depicted the popular character Jules Maigret, created by Georges Simenon. Barma oversaw the series until 1981.
Claude Barma died in 1992, and was buried in Ars-en-RéinCharente-Maritime.