The French acting legend Jean-Paul Belmondo is dead. His lawyer told the AFP news agency. Belmondo was 88 years old.
After minor film roles in the late 1950s, he made his breakthrough in 1960 with “A bout de souffle” (Eng. Out of breath). Since then, Belmondo, who embodied the existentialist figurehead of the rebellious youth of the 1960s in the new French cinema, has been France’s most influential actor alongside Alain Delon. He worked with important directors such as Jean-Pierre Melville, Louis Malle, Claude Chabrol, Claude Sautet, François Truffaut and Henri Verneuil.
Belmondo was born on April 9, 1933 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, the second of three children. His father, Jean-Paul Belmondo, a sculptor, was a member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris from 1959. His mother was known as a dancer, but also as a painter.
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