Jean-paul belmonde, franceStar of Breathless does aged 88
Jean-Paul Belmondo, the French actor who shot to international fame in Jean-Luc Godard’s revolutionary new wave classic Breathless, has died aged 88. The actor’s lawyer confirmed the news to AFP.
Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo was a French actor, initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s and a major French film star for several decades from 1960s. His best known credits include Breathless, That Man from Rio, and Pierrot le Fou.
According Wikipedia, Jean-Paul Belmondo was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine on April 9, 1933.
His father, Paul Belmondo was a born in Algeria to an Italian descent, who’s parents were Secilian and Piedmontese origin.
His mother, Sarah Rainaud-Richard, was a painter. As a boy, he was more interested in sport than school, developing a particular interest in boxing and soccer.
Belmondo made his amateur boxing debut on 10 May 1949 in Paris when he knocked out Rene Desmarais in one round. Belmondo’s boxing career was brief and undefeated. He won three straight first-round knockout victories from 1949 to 1950.
“I stopped when the face I saw in the mirror began to change,” he said in one his interviews
After quitting boxing, Belmondo developed interest in acting. His late teenage years were spent at a private drama school, and he began performing comedy sketches in the provinces. He studied under Raymond Giraud and then attended the Conservatoire of Dramatic Arts at the age of 20.
He studied there for three years. He would probably have won the prize for best actor, but participated in a sketch mocking the school, which offended the jury; this resulted in his only getting an honourable mention, “which nearly set off a riot among his incensed fellow students” in August 1956, according to a report; an incident that made front page news then.
Adieu!
