Daniel Schmid, 64; Prominent Swiss Film and Opera Director

Daniel Schmid, 64, one of Switzerland’s most prominent film and opera directors, died Saturday in his hometown of Flims in eastern Switzerland after a battle with cancer.

Schmid’s best-known film was the 1984 documentary “Il Bacio di Tosca,” or “Tosca’s Kiss,” about elderly opera singers who live together in a special retirement home for musicians and remember their lives and careers.

He also appeared in front of the camera in a number of films, including alongside Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz as the character Samuel Ingraham in “Der Amerikanische Freund” (1977), or “The American Friend.”