Jean-Paul Belmondo
| Jean-Paul Belmondo | |
|---|---|
 Belmondo at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival |
|
| Born | Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo 9 April 1933 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France |
| Other names | Bebel |
| Spouse | Elodie Constantin (1953–1965) Natty Belmondo (2002–2008) |
| Awards | Best Actor 1989 Itinéraire d'un enfant gâté |
Jean-Paul Belmondo (born 9 April 1933) is a French actor initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s.
Contents |
[edit] 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. "Did you box professionally very long?" "Not very long. I was never a professional, just an amateur." "Did you want to be one?" "Yes, when I was 17, I dreamed of being a champion boxer. I trained at the Avia Club with Pierre Dupain, along with Maurice Auzel, who's now European welter-weight champion." "Why did you quit?" "Because you have to really love it and sacrifice for it, I had other ambitions and didn't want to sacrifice my life for it. To be a champion, you have to sacrifice everything. Since at the time I also loved acting, I thought it would be easier and less dangerous than boxing. It would hurt less. There might be blows to your morale, but in boxing you take blows to your body as well, so I chose just blows to my morale." – 1961[citation needed]
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.
[edit] 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 at the time, she and Belmondo married in 2002. On 13 August 2003, when he was 70, his fourth child Stella Eva Angelina was born. In 2008, Belmondo and Tardivel divorced[citation needed].
[edit] Cultural references
- Belmondo is saluted in a 1967 episode of the U.S. television sitcom Get Smart. In the episode "The Spirit is Willing" a top agent of the sinister spy agency KAOS is named Paul John Mondebello, an obvious alteration of Belmondo's name.[6] He is also mentioned in a song about "Masculinity" in the play La Cage Aux Folles, and is mentioned in the Donovan song "Sunny South Kensington" on the Mellow Yellow album.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Décret du 14 mai 1994 portant promotion et nomination". JORF 1994 (112): 7102. 1994-05-15. PREX9410898D. http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnTexteDeJorf?numjo=PREX9410898D. Retrieved 2009-03-14.
- ^ "Décret du 6 avril 2007 portant promotion". JORF 2007 (84): 6582. 08-04-2007. PREX0710141D. http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnTexteDeJorf?numjo=PREX0710141D. Retrieved 2009-03-14.
- ^ http://www.lafca.net/years/2009.htm
- ^ Bébel – Jean-Paul Belmondo Fanlisting
- ^ Famous French people of immigrant origin, Eupedia : France Guide
- ^ The Complete Get Smart Guide – Episode Guides – Third Season
[edit] External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jean-Paul Belmondo |
- Jean-Paul Belmondo’s fans forum (eng)
- Jean-Paul Belmondo at the Internet Movie Database
- Belmondo Biography on newwavefilm.com
- Jean-Paul Belmondo at Yahoo! Movies
- Jean-Paul Belmondo at AllRovi
- Jean-Paul Belmondo at filmsdefrance.com
|
|||||||
