Jean-Paul Belmondo

Jean-Paul Belmondo

Belmondo at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival
Born Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo
9 April 1933 (1933-04-09) (age 77)
Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Other names Bebel
Spouse Elodie Constantin (1953-1965)
Natty Belmondo (2002-2008)

Jean-Paul Belmondo (born 9 April 1933) is a French actor initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s.

Contents

Career

Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, west of Paris, Belmondo did not perform well in school, but developed a passion for boxing and football.

His breakthrough role was in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless (1960), which made him a major figure in the French New Wave. Later he acted in Jean-Pierre Melville's philosophical movie Leon Morin, Priest (1961) and in Melville's Film Noir crime film The Fingerman (Le Doulos, 1963) and Godard again with Pierrot le fou (1965). With That Man From Rio (1965) he switched to commercial, mainstream productions, mainly comedies and action films but did appear in the title role of Alain Resnais' masterpiece Stavisky (1974), which some critics regard as Belmondo's finest performance. Until the mid-1980s, when he ceased to be one of France's biggest box-office stars, Belmondo's typical characters were either dashing adventurers or more cynical heroes. As he grew older, Belmondo preferred concentrating on his stage work, where he encountered success. He suffered a stroke in 2001 and had since been absent from the stage and the screen until 2009 when he appeared in Un homme et son chien (A Man and His Dog).

He was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre national du Mérite, promoted Officier (Officer) in 1986 and promoted Commandeur (Commander) in 1994.[1]

He was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur, promoted Officier (Officer) in 1991 and promoted Commandeur (Commander) in 2007.[2]

In 2010 the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards gave him a Career Achievement award.[3] Belmondo attended the ceremony and made appearances in the Los Angeles area.

Personal life

Belmondo's father, Paul Belmondo, was a sculptor of Italian descent.[4][5]

In 1953, Belmondo married Élodie Constantin, with whom he had three children: Patricia (1958), Florence (1960) and Paul (1963). Paul became a Formula One driver; his eldest daughter Patricia was killed in a fire in 1994. In 1966, due to a well-publicized affair between Belmondo and actress Ursula Andress, Belmondo and his wife divorced.

In 1989, Belmondo met Nathalie Tardivel who was 24 years old at the time. Belmondo married her in 2002. On 13 August 2003, when he was 70, his fourth child Stella Eva Angelina was born. In 2008, Belmondo and Tardivel divorced and he is now dating Barbara Gandolfi, a Belgian ex-Playboy model.[6]

Cultural references

Filmography

  • Molihre (1956)
  • On Foot, on Horse, and on Wheels (1957)
  • Les Copains du dimanche (1958)
  • Sois belle et tais-toi (1958)
  • Sunday Encounter (1958)
  • Les Tricheurs (1958)
  • Ein Engel auf Erden (1959)
  • Les trois mousquetaire (1959)
  • À double tour (1959)
  • Breathless (1960)
  • The Big Risk (1960)
  • Moderato Cantabile (1960)
  • Love and the Frenchwoman (1960) (segment "L'Adultère")
  • Trapped by Fear (1960)
  • Charlotte et son Jules (1960)
  • Rita (1960)
  • Two Women (1960)
  • The Lovemakers (1961)
  • A Woman Is a Woman (1961)
  • Leon Morin, Priest (1961)
  • Famous Love Affairs (1961) (segment "Lauzun")
  • Un nommi La Rocca (1961)
  • Cartouche (1962)
  • Un singe en hiver (1962)
  • Le Doulos (1962)
  • Beach Casanova (1962) (uncredited)
  • The Shortest Day (1962)
  • Banana Peel (1963)
  • L'Ainé des Ferchaux (1963)
  • Dragées au poivre (1963)
  • Mare matto (1963)
  • That Man from Rio (1964)
  • Cent mille dollars au soleil (1964)
  • Backfire (1964)
  • La Chasse à l'homme (1964)
  • Weekend at Dunkirk (1964)
  • Crime on a Summer Morning (1965)
  • Pierrot le fou (1965)
  • Chinese Adventures in China (1965)
  • Is Paris Burning? (1966)
  • Tender Scoundrel (1966)
  • The Thief of Paris (1967)
  • Casino Royale (1967)
  • Ho! (1968)
  • The Brain (1969)
  • Mississippi Mermaid (1969)
  • Un homme qui me plaît (1969)
  • Dieu a choisi Paris (1969)
  • Borsalino (1970)
  • The Burglars (1971)
  • Les Mariés de l'an II (1971)
  • Dr. Popaul (1972)
  • La Scoumoune (1972)
  • L'Héritier (1973)
  • Le Magnifique (1973)
  • Stavisky (1974)
  • Peur sur la ville (1975)
  • L'Incorrigible (1975)
  • Hunter Will Get You (1976)
  • Body of My Enemy (1976)
  • L'Animal (1977)
  • Cop or Hood (1979)
  • Le Guignolo (1980)
  • The Professional (1981)
  • L'As des as (1982)
  • The Outsider (1983)
  • Les Morfalous (1984)
  • Happy Easter (1984)
  • Rufianes Y Tramposos (1984)
  • Hold-Up (1985)
  • The Loner (1987)
  • Itinéraire d'un enfant gâté (1988)
  • Stranger in the House (1992)
  • Les Cent et une nuits de Simon Cinima (1995)
  • Les Misérables (1995)
  • Désiré (1996)
  • Half a Chance (1998)
  • Peut-être (1999)
  • Actors (2000)
  • Amazon (2000)
  • Down in the Boondocks (2008)
  • A Man and His Dog (2009)

See also

References

External links