From boxing ring to box office
JEAN-PAUL Belmondo became an international star aged 26 in the low budget French film Breathless, which told the true story of a man who stole a car and shot a policeman who flagged him down.
With a broken nose from boxing, Belmondo fit the part of a criminal but he also had strong sex appeal with his rugged good looks.The director was Jean-Luc Godard, who created a sensation with his bold camera work which signalled a new wave in French cinema.
So successful was the film that a cult of “Belmondisme” erupted in Paris with young men modelling their appearance on Jean-Paul.
In 1960 he co-starred with Sophia Loren in Two Women and appeared opposite Claudia Cardinale in The Lovemakers.
He said: “One minute I was reading Cinemonde and drooling over pictures of Gina, Sophia and Brigitte Bardot.Then, suddenly, I was holding them in my arms.”
Shunning Hollywood, he made
a succession of French films, including A Woman Is A Woman in 1961.While making L’Homme de Rio in Brazil in 1964 he insisted on doing all his own stunts, including swimming across a piranha-infested river.
Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, his father Paul Belmondo was a successful sculptor. Although educated at the best schools in Paris, he wanted to become a boxer but quit undefeated in 1950.
When he was 20 he trained to be an actor and began touring with a small theatre group.
His film break came in 1958 with
Be Beautiful But Shut Up but it was when Godard saw him on stage that his film career kicked off.
He was in a relationship with actress Ursula Andress and married twice, to ballet dancer Elodie Constantin and later to dancer Nathalie Tardivel. One of his four children perished in a fire.