Bernard Beer, host of an influential French TV show about books, has died at the age of 89

For 15 years, French viewers have followed Mr. Beer on his weekly show "Apostrophes" to decide what to read next.

Bernard Beer, a French television host who made and debunked writers by hosting a weekly program of book talks that attracted millions of viewers, died Monday in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris. He was 89 years old.

His death in hospital after being diagnosed with cancer was confirmed by his daughter Cecile Beer.

From 1975 to 1990, France watched Monsieur Beer on Friday nights to decide what to read next. The country would watch him coax, cajole and flatter novelists, memoirists, politicians and actors, then head to bookstores the next day in search of tables labeled "Apostrophes", which was the name of his show.

In the French universe, where serious writers and intellectuals compete fiercely for the public's attention to become superstars, Monsieur Beer never competed with his guests. He achieved a kind of sublime chatter that flattered his audience without burdening his invitees.

During the program's heyday, in the 1980s, French publishers estimated that the Apostrophes accounted for a third of the country's book sales. Mr. Beer's influence was so great that in 1982 one of President François Mitterrand's advisers, the left-wing intellectual Régis Debray, vowed to rid himself of the power of "one man who has real dictatorial power over the book market".

But the president stepped in to drown out the uproar, reasserting Mr. Pivot's authority.