Actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, star of 'Breathless,' dies at 88
PARIS (AP) — Jean-Paul Belmondo, star of the iconic French New Wave film “Breathless,” whose crooked boxer’s nose and rakish grin went on to make him one of the country’s most recognizable leading men, has died. He was 88.
His death was confirmed Monday by the office of his lawyer, Michel Godest. No cause of death was given.
Belmondo’s career spanned a half-century. Belmondo, who embodied in the 1960s a new type of male star characterized by pure virility rather than their classic good looks, went on to appear in more than 80 films and worked with a variety of major French directors, from Francois Truffaut to Claude Lelouch.
His career choices were equally varied, from acclaimed art house films to critically lukewarm action and comedy films later on in his career.
His unconventional looks — flattened nose, full lips and muscular frame — allowed him to play roles from thug to police officer, thief to priest, Cyrano de Bergerac to an unshakable secret agent. Belmondo was also a gifted athlete who often did his own stunts.
French President Emmanuel Macron called the actor a “national treasure” in an homage on Twitter and Instagram recalling his panache, his laughter and versatility. He was at once a “sublime hero” and “a familiar figure,” Macron wrote. “In him, we all recognize ourselves.”
France bounded into Belmondo mode at news of his death with politicians of all stripes praising him as the media put the actor everyone seemed to love at center-stage. Old movie clips caught the athletic Belmondo in heart-stopping acrobatics he was known to love, from sliding down a rooftop to climbing up a rope ladder from a moving convertible.
Belmondo was born on April 9, 1933, in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine into an artistic family. His father was renowned sculptor Paul...