Roger Hanin died at the age of 89. (Image courtesy: AFP File Photo)
French actor and film director Roger Hanin, famous for his role in TV police drama
Navarro, and the brother-in-law of former president Francois Mitterrand, died on February 11, according to his family. He was 89.
Mr Hanin was best known for his starring role in the classic detective series that ran from 1989 to 2006 on French television.
The French presidency issued a statement paying tribute to the actor who was "linked to several generations".
"He was able to excite many people and able to reconcile his popular role with an artistic dimension," said Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin, who described Mr Hanin as a part of the French imagination.
He was born in Algeria in 1925 and began his film career in the 1950s after being discovered by filmmaker Max Glass.