Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (French pronunciation:[ʒɑ̃pɔlʃaʁl(ə)bɛlmɔ̃do]; 9 April 1933 – 6 September 2021) was a French actor. Initially associated with theNew Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward, frequently portraying police officers and criminals in action thriller films. His best known credits includeBreathless (1960),That Man from Rio (1964),Pierrot le Fou (1965),Borsalino (1970), andThe Professional (1981).[1] An undisputed box-office champion along withLouis de Funès andAlain Delon, Belmondo attracted nearly 160 million viewers over his 50-year career. Between 1969 and 1982, he starred in four most popular films of the year in France, surpassed only by de Funès:The Brain (1969),Fear Over the City (1975),Animal (1977),Ace of Aces (1982).[2]
Belmondo frequently played heroic, brave, and virile characters, which made him popular with a wide audience both in France and abroad. Despite being heavily courted byHollywood, Belmondo refused to appear in English-language films.[3][4] During his career, he was called the French counterpart of actors such asJames Dean,Marlon Brando andHumphrey Bogart.[5] Described as an icon and national treasure of France, Belmondo was seen as an influential actor in French cinema and an important figure in shaping European cinema.[6][5][7] In 1989, Belmondo won theCésar Award for Best Actor for his performance inItinéraire d'un enfant gâté. He was nominated for twoBAFTA Awards throughout his career. In 2011, Belmondo received the Palme d'honneur at theCannes Film Festival, and in 2017 he received the César d'honneur at the42nd César Awards.[8]
Jean-Paul Belmondo was born inNeuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris, on 9 April 1933.[5][9] Belmondo's father,Paul Belmondo, was aPied-Noirsculptor who was born in Algeria of Italian descent, whose parents were ofSicilian andPiedmontese origin.[10][11][12][13] His mother, Sarah Madeleine Rainaud-Richard, was a painter.[14] As a boy, he was more interested in sport than school, developing a particular interest in boxing and soccer.[15]
Belmondo made his amateur boxing debut on 10 May 1949 in Paris when he knocked out René Desmarais in one round.[5] Belmondo's boxing career was undefeated, but brief.[15] He won three straight first-round knockout victories from 1949 to 1950.[16] "I stopped when the face I saw in the mirror began to change", he later said.[15]
Belmondo was interested in acting.[19] His late teenage years were spent at a private drama school, and he began performing comedy sketches in the provinces.[19] He studied under Raymond Giraud and then attended theConservatoire of Dramatic Arts when he was twenty.[5] He studied there for three years.[19] He probably would have won the prize for best actor, but he participated in a sketch mocking the school, which offended the jury; this resulted in his getting only an honourable mention, "which nearly set off a riot among his incensed fellow students" in August 1956, according to one report.[15] The incident made front-page news.[19]
Breathless was a major success in France and overseas and launched Belmondo internationally and as the face of the New Wave – even though, as he said "I don't know what they mean" when people used that term.[15] In the words ofThe New York Times it led to his having "more acting assignments than he can handle."[31]
Two Women andBreathless were widely seen in the United States and the UK.[30] In 1961,The New York Times called him "the most impressive young French actor since the advent of the lateGérard Philipe".[35]
François Truffaut wanted Belmondo to play the lead in an adaptation ofFahrenheit 451.[41] This did not happen (the film was made several years later withOskar Werner);[41] instead Belmondo made two movies with Jean-Pierre Melville: thefilm noir crime filmThe Fingerman (Le Doulos, 1963) andMagnet of Doom (1963).[42][43] He co-starred withGina Lollobrigida inMad Sea (1963) and appeared in another comedy anthology,Sweet and Sour (1963).[44] There was some controversy when he was arrested for insulting a policeman, when the policeman was charged with assaulting Belmondo.[45]
A later manifestation of youthful rejection... His disengagement from a society his parents made is total. He accepts corruption with a cynical smile, not even bothering to struggle. He is out entirely for himself, to get whatever he can, while he can. The Belmondo type is capable of anything. He knows he is defeated anyway... He represents something tough yet vulnerable, laconic but intense, notably lacking in neuroses or the stumbling insecurities of homus Americanus. He is the man of the moment, completely capable of taking care of himself - and ready to take on the girl of the moment too.[47]
Belmondo's own tastes ran toTintin comics, sports magazines, and detective novels.[19] He said he preferred "making adventure films likeRio to the intellectual movies ofAlain Resnais orAlain Robbe-Grillet.[19] But withFrançois Truffaut I'd be willing to try."[19] His fee was said to be between US$150,000–$200,000 per film. Belmondo said he was open to makingHollywood films but he wanted to play an American rather than a Frenchman and was interested inCary Grant type roles instead of James Dean/Bogart ones.[19]
Belmondo dominated the French box office for 1964 –That Man from Rio was the fourth most popular movie in the country,Greed in the Sun was seventh,Weekend at Dunkirk ninth, andBackfire 19th.[49]
Crime on a Summer Morning (1965) was less successful, though it still performed well on the strength of Belmondo's name.[50]Up to His Ears (1965) was an attempt to repeat the popularity ofThat Man Rio, from the same director, but did less well.[51]
There were Hollywood offers, but Belmondo turned them down.[3] "He won't make films outside of France", said directorMark Robson, who wanted him forLost Command (1966).[3] "He has scripts stacked up and he doesn't see why he should jeopardise his great success by speaking English instead of French."[3]
After makingThe Thief of Paris (1967) forLouis Malle, Belmondo took an acting hiatus for over a year.[4] "One day it seemed that life was passing me by", he said. "I didn't want to work. So I stopped. Then one day I felt like starting again. So I started."[4]
Belmondo spent three months of that time off in Hollywood but did not accept any offers.[4][3] He did not want to learn English and appear in English-language films:
Every Frenchman dreams of making a Western, of course but America has plenty of good actors. I'm not being falsely modest but why would they need me? I prefer a national film to an international film. Something is lost. Look at what happened to Italy when they went international.[4]
Belmondo starred alongsideAlain Delon inBorsalino (1970), a successful gangster film.[59] The latter produced the film and Belmondo ended up suing Delon over billing.[60]
Inspired by the success Alain Delon had producing his own films, Belmondo formed his own production company, Cerito Films (named after his grandmother, Rosina Cerrito), to develop movies for Belmondo.[63] The first Cerito film was the black comedyDr. Popaul (1972), withMia Farrow, the biggest hit to date for directorClaude Chabrol.[26]
"What intellectuals don't like is success", said Belmondo.[77] "Success in France is always looked down on, not by the public, but by intellectuals. If I'm nude in a film, that's fine for the intellectuals. But if I jump from a helicopter, they think it's terrible."[77]
Belmondo kept to commercial films:Le Marginal (1983) as a policeman,[78]Les Morfalous (1984) as a sergeant in theFrench Foreign Legion,[79]Hold-Up (1985) as a bank robber,[36] andLe Solitaire (1987), again playing another policeman in the last one, the latter one was a big box office disappointment and Belmondo returned to theatre shortly afterwards.[80]
In 1987, he returned to the theatre after a 26-year absence in a production ofKean, adapted byJean-Paul Sartre from the novel byAlexandre Dumas.[77] "I did theatre for 10 years before going into movies and every year I planned to go back", he recalled.[77] "I returned before I became an old man."[77]
Belmondo claimed there were "several reasons" why he made fewer films in the 1980s.[77] "I'm now a producer so it takes time to organise things", he said.[77] "But it's also difficult to find good screenplays in France. We have serious writing problems here. And I'd prefer to do theatre for a long time than take on a mediocre film."[77]
In 2009, Belmondo starred inA Man and His Dog ("Un homme et son chien"), his final film role.[87] Despite his difficulty in walking and speaking, he played a character who had the same disability.[88] Following this film he was forced into retirement in 2011 having earlier suffered astroke in 2001.[89]
Belmondo was made aChevalier (Knight) of theOrdre National du Mérite, promoted toOfficier (Officer) in 1986 and promoted toCommandeur (Commander) in 1994.[90] He was also made aChevalier (Knight) of theOrdre National de la Légion d'Honneur, promotedOfficier (Officer) in 1991, and promoted toCommandeur (Commander) in 2007.[91]
On 4 December 1952, Belmondo married Élodie Constantin,[96] with whom he had three children: Patricia (1953–1993), who was killed in a fire, Florence (born 1958), andPaul (born 1963).[5] Belmondo and Constantin separated in 1965.[5] She filed for divorce in September 1966, and it was finalised on 5 January 1968.[97]
He had relationships withUrsula Andress from 1965 to 1972,[98]Laura Antonelli from 1972 to 1980,[99] Brazilian actress and singer Maria Carlos Sotto Mayor from 1980 to 1987,[100] and Barbara Gandolfi from 2008 to 2012.[101]
In 1989, Belmondo was in his mid-50s when he met 24-year-old dancer Natty Tardivel.[5] The couple lived together for over a decade before marrying in 2002.[5] On 13 August 2003, Tardivel gave birth to then 70-year-old Belmondo's fourth child, Stella Eva Angelina.[5] Belmondo and Tardivel divorced in 2008.[5]
Belmondo died on 6 September 2021 at his home in Paris, aged 88.[5] He had been in failing health since he suffered a stroke a decade earlier.[89] A national tribute was held on 9 September inHôtel des Invalides.[7]PresidentEmmanuel Macron called Belmondo a "national hero".[7] The last tribute melody was "Chi Mai" byEnnio Morricone (from The 1981 filmThe Professional). The next day, 10 September, his funeral took place at theSaint-Germain-des-Prés church in the presence of relatives and family. The actorsAlain andAnthony Delon also were present.[103] His remains were cremated at thePère Lachaise Cemetery.[104] Unlike his father, the sculptor Paul Belmondo, who was buried at theMontparnasse Cemetery, Jean-Paul's ashes were scattered in the garden of his childhood home in Piriac-sur-Mer, in Loire-Atlantique.[105]
Throughout his career, he was called the French counterpart of actors such asJames Dean,Marlon Brando, andHumphrey Bogart.[5] On the day of his death, television channels in France altered their schedules to add screenings of his films, which drew over 6.5 million viewers cumulatively.[106] For his performances as a police officer in many films, theNational Police said that "Even if it was just cinema you were in a way one of us, Mr. Belmondo".[106] Throughout his career, he was regarded as an influential French actor and was often seen as the face of theFrench New Wave.[14] Belmondo was described as the "figurehead" of the French New Wave, with his acting techniques often seen as capturing the style and imagination of France in the 1960s.[6]
Many of his film roles, especially as Michel Poiccard, were regarded as "legendary" and highly influential.[107] Despite his reluctance to learn English, many often believed had he accepted offers fromHollywood, his success there would have been comparable to that of French actorsCharles Boyer orMaurice Chevalier.[107] In an obituary forThe Guardian, they hailed Belmondo as an "integral part of the history of French cinema, and France itself".[107] He was described as the "epitome of cool".[108]
American film directorQuentin Tarantino cited Belmondo as an influence and called Belmondo "a verb that represents vitality, charisma, a force of will, it represents super coolness".[7] English directorEdgar Wright said that "cinema will never be quite as cool again" following Belmondo's death.[8] He was described as an icon of French cinema and being influential in shaping modern European cinema.[6]
^Grenier, Cynthia (15 May 1960). "MOVIE ACTIVITIES ALONG THE SEINE: Explosive Premieres – Idol – New Clement, Camus Features".The New York Times. p. X7.
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