The Return of the Classic Films Obituary Thread

[CBHagman]

19. Actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, 88

From the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/sep/06/jean-paul-belmondo-star-of-breathless-dies-aged-88

Born in 1933 in the well-to-do Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, son of “pied-noir” sculptor Paul Belmondo, Belmondo attended a string of elite private schools but did poorly. He showed more interest in sport, and embarked on a brief amateur boxing career as a teenager. After contracting tuberculosis, he became interested in performing, and applied to the elite National Academy of Dramatic Arts, eventually gaining a place in 1952.

After graduation, Belmondo began acting in the theatre, appearing in plays by Anouilh, Feydeau and George Bernard Shaw. He also secured a string of small film roles: in one of them, Marc Allegret’s 1958 comedy Un Drôle de Dimanche, he was spotted by Godard who was then still a critic at Cahiers du Cinéma. Godard cast him in a 12-minute short, Charlotte and Her Boyfriend – billed as “a homage to Cocteau”, it consists of Belmondo’s character ranting at his girlfriend in a hotel room. (The voice was supplied by Godard himself, after Belmondo was conscripted into the army to serve in Algeria.)

Before Godard could get a feature off the ground, his fellow critic Claude Chabrol cast Belmondo in his 1959 thriller A Double Tour (AKA Web of Passion), playing the murder victim’s boyfriend. The character’s name, Laszlo Kovacs, would recur in Breathless as a sly in-joke. But it was Godard’s film, shot in the late summer of 1959, that secured Belmondo’s ascension as the louche face of the French New Wave. Based on a treatment by François Truffaut and Chabrol, Breathless was inspired by the real-life activities of killer Michel Portail. Much has been written about Breathless’ unorthodox production, with Godard writing new dialogue every day, and shooting without lighting to allow for acting spontaneity; Belmondo responded brilliantly to Godard’s tactics, and the film became a substantial commercial hit on its release in 1960.