Jean-Paul Belmondo
From Wikinfo
- For criticism see Criticism of Jean-Paul_Belmondo
Jean-Paul Belmondo (born April 9, 1933) is a French actor initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s.
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Career
Born Neuilly-sur-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 (1960), then in the Film Noir crime film The Fingerman (1963). With That Man From Rio (1965) he switched to commercial, mainstream productions, mainly comedies and action films. Until the mid-1980s, Belmondo's typical characters have been either dashing adventurers or more cynical heroes. He was one of France's biggest box-office stars until the mid-1980s. As he grew older, Belmondo preferred concentrating on his stage work, where he encountered success. He suffered a stroke in 2001 and has since been absent from the stage and the screen.
Bogart Influence
Jean-Paul Belmondo was deeply influenced by the work and image of Humphrey Bogart. In Breathless, the protagonist Michel worships the persona of Humphrey Bogart and mimes some of Bogart's best-known gestures in a way that is both absurd and touching.
Personal life
Belmondo's father, Paul, was a sculptor of Sicilian descent.[1][2]
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, at the age of 70, his fourth child Stella was born.
Cultural references
- Belmondo is saluted in a 1967 episode of the U.S. television sitcom Get Smart. In the episode, entitled 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.[3]
- 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.
Jean-Paul Belmondo and Mary Quant got stoned to say the least... -Donovan
- The main character Nick Twisp in the Youth In Revolt series by C.D. Payne is said to resemble Belmondo numerous times.
Filmography as actor includes
See also
References
- ^ Bébel - Jean-Paul Belmondo Fanlisting
- ^ Famous French people of immigrant origin, Eupedia : France Guide
- ^ The Complete Get Smart Guide - Episode Guides - Third Season
External links
| This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Jean-Paul_Belmondo. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. The text of this Wikinfo article is available under the GNU Free Documentation License and the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license. |
