Jean-Paul
Belmondo was born
in 1933 in Neuilly-sur Seine, near to Paris. He had a comfortable
bourgeois family background, his father being the distinguished
sculptor,
Paul Belmondo. As a youth he trained as a boxer before deciding
that
his future lay in acting. After a number of attempts, he finally
gained admittance to the Paris Conservatoire in 1952, although his
tutors
were not overly optimistic about his prospects. It was here that
he acquired the affectionate nickname Bébel.
In the mid-1950s,
Belmondo
appeared in a few theatrical productions, often to great acclaim,
before
beginning a film career in 1956 with Les Copains du dimanche
(although
the film was never played in public cinemas).
Stardom came in
1959 when
he took the lead role of a sympathetic gangster in Jean-Luc Godard’s A
Bout de souffle. This film launched not just Belmondo’s
stunning
film career but also the New Wave of French cinema, which Belmondo
would
play a major part during the early 1960s.

Within a short
time, Belmondo
achieved international celebrity for his parts in such films as Cent
mille dollars au soleil and L’Homme de Rio. These films
gave
Belmondo the opportunity to develop his laid-back hard man image, often
undertaking amazing stunts without the services of a stunt-man.
Along side his
friendly rival
Alain Delon, Belmondo became the most popular male actor of the 1960s
and
early 1970s, his films consistently achieving phenomenal box office
returns.
Whether the crook, the gangster, the spy or the redoubtable detective,
the Belmondo formula would be a sure-footed raging success.

Despite his
unconventional
looks, including a broken nose, he was often polled as one of the
sexiest
men in the world. In the late 1960s, Belmondo founded his own
production
company, Cerito.
After an amazing
film career
spanning thirty years (receiving a Cesar in 1989 for his performance inItinéraire
d'un enfant gaté), Belmondo made a spectacular return to
theatre
in 1987, appearing in Kean. He has continued to perform
in
theatre to great acclaim, whilst simultaneously pursuing his film
career.
Jean-Paul
Belmondo remains
one of the most popular and best-loved personalities in France and he
has
received France’s highest accolade, the Legion of Honour.
To find out more
about Jean-Paul
Belmondo, visit:
http://www.bebelworld.be.tf
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