Jean-paul Belmondo

Coming from a family of artists (his father was a famous sculptor and his mother a painter), he thought of making a sporting career then turned to comedy and entered the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art in 1951. He rubbed shoulders there. notably Jean-Pierre Marielle, Bruno Cremer, Jean Rochefort and Claude Rich and appears for the first time in On foot, on horseback and in carriage (1957) by Maurice Delbez. Be beautiful and be silent (Marc Allegret) and Les Tricheurs (Marcel Carné) in 1958.

His first important role was entrusted to him by Claude Sautet in Class all risks and the revelation was born especially with A bout de souffle by Jean-Luc Godard in 1959. From then on, he revealed himself to be a multi-faceted actor and held various roles, directed by the greatest directors. In 1961 he was Léon Morin, priest for Jean-Pierre Melville then he played in Un singe en hiver by Henri Verneuil alongside Jean Gabin.

In addition, he made a series of successful films such as L 'Homme de Rio by Philippe de Broca (1964), The tribulations of a Chinese in China (1965), La Sirène du Mississippi by François Truffaut (1969), Borsalino by Jacques Deray (1970) or Le Magnifique (1973). He even embodies unexpected roles as in Pierrot le Fou by Godard in 1965 or against employment such as Stavisky for Alain Resnais in 1974. He performs all the stunts of his films, notably in Fear of the city by Henri Verneuil and multiplies in turning the 80s into box office triumphs, with Georges Lautner for Flic ou voyou or Le Professionnel or with Gerard Oury for L 'As des As in 1982.

Claude Lelouch offers him emblematic roles (Itinerary of a spoiled child in 1988 or Les Misérables in 1995) but he does not abandon the action or his former partners: we find him with Alain Delon in 1998 in Une chance sur two by Patrice Leconte even if the success is less there than in the theater where the actor meets a real triumph. This did not prevent him from responding to Bertrand Blier's call and participating in Actors in 2000. Almost a decade later, Jean-Paul Belmondo made his comeback in cinema, alongside Francis Huster who directed also the film, in Un homme et son chien (2009), a drama in which he plays a man who finds himself in the street overnight alone with his dog.