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France's New Wave movie icon Jean-Paul Belmondo dies aged 88
Giulia Carbonaro

France is mourning the death of a "national treasure," as iconic French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo died on Monday at the age of 88.

Rising to international fame after his role in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless in 1960, Belmondo became one of the biggest stars of France's New Wave cinema and was declared by Time magazine in 1964 the face of modern France.

And a very handsome face at that: with his boxer's broken nose and rough features, "the natural son of the Existentialist conception, standing for everything and nothing at 738 mph," as Time described him, was considered one of the biggest sex symbols of the 1960s.

 

Jean-Paul Belmondo, boards a plane for Casablanca, Morocco with fellow French actor Lino Ventura on September 13, 1963, to attend the shooting of the film "100 000 dollars au soleil (Greed in the Sun)". /AFP

Jean-Paul Belmondo, boards a plane for Casablanca, Morocco with fellow French actor Lino Ventura on September 13, 1963, to attend the shooting of the film "100 000 dollars au soleil (Greed in the Sun)". /AFP

 

Born in 1933 in the bourgeois Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, Belmondo started a career as amateur boxer as a teenager, but was forced to abandon it after contracting tuberculosis.

After training at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, he acted in theater plays and small film roles, until he was spotted by Godard and became something of a muse to the French director.

Belmondo went on to star in other beloved films by Godard after such as Pierrot le Fou next to Anna Karina, and acted in more than 80 movies throughout his career.

 

Ursula Andress pictured holding a pen and pad as she listens to actor Jean-Paul Belmondo in 1965. /Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Ursula Andress pictured holding a pen and pad as she listens to actor Jean-Paul Belmondo in 1965. /Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images

 

From the 1970s, he took on more roles in commercial cinema, in which he often performed his own stunts, but was criticized by those who accused him of wasting his talents on box-office films.

He, on the other hand, enjoyed working on both art house movies and blockbusters, saying: "It is like life. One day you laugh, the next you cry." 

"When an actor is successful, people turn their back on him and say that he has taken the easy way out, that he doesn't want to make an effort or take any risks," Belmondo once said.

 

French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo poses on the red carpet before a ceremony in his honor at the 64th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France on May 17, 2011. /Valery Hache/AFP

French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo poses on the red carpet before a ceremony in his honor at the 64th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France on May 17, 2011. /Valery Hache/AFP

 

His acting career ended shortly after he suffered a stroke in 2001 while on holiday in Corsica. In 2016, the Venice film festival awarded him a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.

He was twice married and twice divorced, had a series of relationships with famous actresses and models, and also lived for seven years with Ursula Andress, who acted in the first James Bond film Dr No.

The actor's lawyer told AFP reporters that Belmondo died peacefully in his home, after "he had been very tired for some time."

 

Cover image: AFP

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters

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