Belmondo - 88 years old: How an ugly handsome man and boxing champion became one of the most famous French

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

April 9 marks 88 years of the world famous French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo … He has earned a reputation as a conqueror of women's hearts and one of the most commercially successful and sought-after artists in France. But despite its incredible popularity back in the days of the USSR, for our viewers it remained a mystery for a long time. Little-known facts about Belmondo, which will make you see him from an unexpected angle, are further in the review.

The father of the future star of French cinema was a sculptor. As a child, he often posed for his father when he sculpted cupids, which can still be seen at fountains in Paris today. When, many years later, Belmondo is invited to the César film awards ceremony for the film The Minion of Fate, he will refuse the award on the grounds that the sculptor who authored the statuette spoke unflatteringly about the work of his father Paul Belmondo. This surname is not French, but Sicilian, where his grandparents came from on his father's side. Therefore, the Italians considered the actor their own and jokingly called him in the newspapers "il bruto" - "freak". But the French nicknamed him "Bebel", which can be translated as "darling of fate" - after the film of the same name by Claude Lelouch, the very one for which Belmondo was awarded "Cesar".

From a young age, Jean-Paul was distinguished by irrepressible energy and constantly got into trouble. For hooliganism and fights, he was expelled from schools three times. To find the use of this overwhelming energy, he went in for sports. At 18, he became the Parisian boxing welterweight champion and entered the French national team. At one of the matches, his nose was broken, but later he managed to turn the broken nose into a highlight of his appearance and the hallmark of a hero-lover, rebel and bully. Belmondo was so keen on boxing that he seriously thought about a sports career. But the love for cinema still turned out to be stronger. Although the actor's sports past came in handy - he performed all the stunts in his films until the age of 52 on his own, until an accident occurred on the set - Belmondo fell from a height and received a serious back injury. The actor often starred in action films, but on the eve of his 60th birthday he decided to stop. "" - explained Belmondo.

The teachers of the Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, where at first Belmondo was accepted only as an auditor, did not see the prospects in his student and said that with such an appearance he could only play villains and imbeciles, that he could not be a hero-lover, as he had to direct horror at girls. However, in this they were mistaken. Belmondo became a star of cinema, and at the same time, both on the set and outside, he easily won women's hearts. The most beautiful actresses became his partners: Ursula Andress, Gina Lollobrigida, Sophia Loren, Catherine Deneuve, Claudia Cardinale and others.

Belmondo has always enjoyed great success with women. "", - the actor admitted laughing. He was officially married twice, but unofficial marriages were much more. He often had affairs with partners on the set. "", - the actor spoke without a shadow of hesitation. His first wife, Elodie Constantin, filed for divorce when she found out that her husband had an affair with his partner on the set, Ursula Andress, who was called the sexiest girl in Bond. And from her the actor left for Laura Antonelli - Playboy magazine's girl of the year. But Belmondo did not stay with her for long. When he left, Laura became addicted to alcohol and drugs and lost her job.

The actor had four children, but the eldest daughter Patricia died tragically in a fire in 1994. The youngest daughter Stella was born when Belmondo was already 70 years old. Her mother was fashion model and dancer Natty Tardivel, who stayed with Belmondo during his most difficult times, helping him to get back on his feet after a stroke. But she did not become his last chosen one. At the age of 75, the actor filed for divorce, and soon a scandal erupted around his new common-law wife Barbara Gandolfi - it turned out that she was engaged in illegal business and financial fraud, from which the actor himself suffered. The police persuaded him to sue her for extortion, but Belmondo showed nobility and peacefully parted with the woman.

The actor began his career on the stage, then went to the cinema, and 30 years later, at the peak of his popularity, he returned to the theater. He played the main role in the play "Kin, or Genius and Dissatisfaction" and appeared on the stage 300 times with unchanged sold out. The theater fascinated him so much that he even sold to the television channel all the rights to films shot by his film company in order to acquire the premises of the Parisian theater "Variety" in Montmartre.

At 62, Jean-Paul Belmondo suffered a stroke, after 6 years - a second, after which the actor was forced to leave the cinema. But what was the surprise and admiration of the audience when the 74-year-old actor returned to the set - he played in the film "The Man and His Dog". Throughout his career, Belmondo has performed about 100 roles in cinema and about 40 in theater. He refers to his age philosophically: "".

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