ARTS

French film director Claude Autant-Lara resigned Friday as vice president of the Academy of Fine Arts following public outrage over his anti-Semitic tirade in an interview with the Globe magazine. Asked during the interview if he is anti-Semitic, Autant-Lara said: “I am anti-Semitic when they behave badly and pro-Jewish when they behave well. Unfortunately, there are not very many who behave well.” Autant-Lara, once one of the nation’s leading film directors, resigned at the request of academy secretary Marcel Landowski, who said in a statement he was “profoundly shocked by Claude Autant-Lara’s declarations.” The 88-year-old director of more than 20 films retained membership in the academy, which was founded in the 18th Century, and refused to express any regret for his remarks in follow-up interviews.