French Celebrities Bio | Gerard Depardieu

There can be few French actors better known in the English-speaking world than the hefty, gruff, controversial and brilliantly talented character actor that is Gérard Depardieu.

His international fame was cemented by popular roles in films such as Cyrano de Bergerac, Jean de Florette and My father, the Hero. But there is much more to this complicated figure than meets the public eye.

Born in the Loire in December 1948, the troubled young Depardieu – one of six children – had to deal with the revelation from his mother that she had tried to abort him. An early life as a delinquent followed, with more time spent wandering the streets than in school, which he left aged 13 to train as a printer. He left Châteauroux for Paris at the age of 16.

He took to acting at the new comedy theatre Café de la Gare, a small travelling band of players where he worked alongside future film co-stars such as Miou-Miou. But his big break in movies came after a few minor roles, when he landed the lead in Les Valseuses (translated as Going Places), Bertrand Blier’s 1974 knockabout comedy-drama that established Depardieu as a popular leading man.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s his stature grew, in more ways than one, with serious acclaim for his parts in The Last Métro, Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources – Claude Berri’s pastoral masterpieces that put Provençal life on the map for many British and American viewers – and in 1990 he gave an Oscar-nominated, career-defining portrayal of a doomed romantic trying to woo his sweetheart by proxy, such is his embarrassment at having an oversized nose.

On the romantic front, Depardieu has seemingly always had a way with the ladies. In 1970 he married actress Elizabeth Guignot, with whom he had two children who both became acclaimed actors in their own right – Guillaume, who died tragically young in 2008, and Julie. He also had a daughter, Roxanne, by model Karen Sylla and is said to have father another child with Helene Bizot. Actress Carole Bouquet was his partner for eight years until 2005, since when he has been with Harvard-educated novelist Clémentine Igou.

Depardieu continues to land plum roles and inspire box office success, taking on memorable character parts in crime thrillers Mesrine and 36 and giving a sensitive portrayal of an illiterate oddjob man in My Afternoons with Marguerite.

Away from the film set, Depardieu has established himself as a winemaker of some repute, and even published his own cookbook celebrating hearty French cuisine. He even owns two Paris restaurants – 'La Fontaine Gaillon' and 'L'Ecaille de la Fontaine'.

He provoked a media storm in 2010 when he lashed out at actress Juilette Binoche in an interview with an Austrian magazine. “I would really like to know why she has been so esteemed for so many years. She [Binoche] has nothing. Absolutely nothing!”

A life of controversy, passion and single-mindedness

Also two movies not to miss, Camille Claudel and Colonel Chabert available to watch with English subtitles on Cinemoi TV

Friday, May, 20th at 12.55 by Katharine Barrau