Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (French: [ʒɑ̃pɔl ʃaʁl(ə) bɛlmɔ̃do]; 9 April 1933 – 6 September 2021) was a French actor, producer and distributor. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s thanks to the success of the film Breathless (1960), he also acted in other films that modernized cinema such as Two Women (1960), Le Doulos (1962), That Man from Rio (1964), Greed in the Sun (1964), and Weekend at Dunkirk (1964). With the film That Man from Rio, he also became a stuntman.
In 1971, he became a film producer and distributor. He then steered his acting career towards commercial cinema starting in 1975. An undisputed box-office champion along with Louis de Funès and Alain Delon, Belmondo attracted nearly 160 million viewers over his 50-year career. He notably appeared four times in the most watched French film of the year in France: The Brain (1969), The Night Caller (1975), Animal (1977), and Ace of Aces (1982); he was only surpassed on this point by Louis de Funès. Having also acted in theatre in his early career, he returned to the scene in Kean (1987) and achieved success. In 1993, he produced his first play, which would become famous: Le Dîner de cons.
Belmondo frequently played heroic, brave, virile characters, which made him popular with a wide audience both in France and abroad. Despite being heavily courted by Hollywood, Belmondo refused to appear in English-language films. He also played more profound roles, notably in Léon Morin, Priest (1961) and Mississippi Mermaid (1969). During his career, he was called the French counterpart of actors such as James Dean, Marlon Brando and Humphrey Bogart. Described as an icon and national treasure of France, Belmondo was seen as an influential actor in French cinema and an important figure in shaping European cinema. He was nominated for two BAFTA Awards throughout his career. In 2011, Belmondo received the Honorary Palme d'Or, in 2016 the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and in 2017 he received a tribute from the César Academy at the 42nd César Awards.
Jean-Paul Belmondo was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris, on 9 April 1933. Belmondo's father, Paul Belmondo, was a Pied-Noir sculptor who was born in Algeria of Italian descent, whose parents were of Sicilian and Piedmontese origin. His mother,
Sarah Madeleine 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 René Desmarais in one round. Belmondo's boxing career was undefeated, but brief. 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 later said.
He did his National Service in French Algeria where he may have broken his nose "with a rifle butt to end his military service."
Belmondo was interested 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 when he was twenty. He studied there for three years. He probably would have won the prize for best actor, but he participated in a sketch mocking the school, which offended the jury; this resulted in his getting only an honourable mention, "which nearly set off a riot among his incensed fellow students" in August 1956, according to one report. The incident made front-page news.
Belmondo's acting career properly began in 1953, with two performances at the Théâtre de l'Atelier in Paris in Jean Anouilh's Médée and Georges Neveux's Zamore. Belmondo began touring the provinces with friends including Annie Girardot and Guy Bedos.
Belmondo first appeared in the short Moliere (1956). His first film role was a scene with Jean-Pierre Cassel in On Foot, on Horse, and on Wheels (1957), which was cut from the final film; however he had a bigger part in the follow-up A Dog, a Mouse, and a Sputnik (1958).
Belmondo had a small role in the comedy Be Beautiful But Shut Up (1958), appearing with Alain Delon, followed by a role as a gangster in Young Sinners (1958), directed by Marcel Carné.
Belmondo supported Bourvil and Arletty in Sunday Encounter (1958). Jean-Luc Godard directed him in a short, Charlotte and Her Boyfriend (1958), where Belmondo's voice was dubbed by Godard after Belmondo was conscripted into the army. As part of his compulsory military service, he served in Algeria as a private for six months.
Belmondo's first lead role was in Les Copains du dimanche (1958). He later had a supporting part in An Angel on Wheels (1959) with Romy Schneider then appeared in Web of Passion (1959) for Claude Chabrol. He played D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers (1959) for French television.
Belmondo starred in Consider All Risks (1960), a gangster story with Lino Ventura. He then played the lead role in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless (À Bout de Souffle, 1960), which made him a major figure in the French New Wave.
Breathless was a major success in France and overseas and launched Belmondo internationally and as the face of the New Wave – even though, as he said "I don't know what they mean" when people used that term. In the words of The New York Times it led to his having "more acting assignments than he can handle."
He followed it with Trapped by Fear (1960), then the Italian film Letters By a Novice (1960). With Jeanne Moreau and director Peter Brook he made Seven Days... Seven Nights (1961) which he later called "very boring."
Belmondo appeared as a gigolo in the anthology film Love and the Frenchwoman (1960). Then he made two Italian films, supporting Sophia Loren in Two Women (1961) as a bespectacled country boy ("It may disappoint those who've got me typed" said Belmondo. "But so much the better."), then opposite Claudia Cardinale in The Lovemakers (1961).
Two Women and Breathless were widely seen in the United States and the UK. In 1961, The New York Times called him "the most impressive young French actor since the advent of the late Gérard Philipe".