At 88 years old, “Bébel” died Monday at his home in Paris at the age of 88. In fifty years of career, the actor leaves lasting memories for several generations of French people. “Breathless”, “The man from Rio”, “Pierrot le fou”, “A monkey in winter”, “The Magnificent”, “The Doulos”, “Itinerary of a spoiled child”, difficult not to not to be exhaustive, when the time has come to choose from among his 80 films.
In the Senate, some have known him well, this is the case of Senator LR of the Alpes-Maritimes, Philippe Tabarot, very moved this Monday. “We hit it off through a mutual friend about ten years ago. He came at least every year to the Grand Hotel in Cannes. I was a fan and I realized that the man was the image of the actor, naturally good. Jean-Paul was present at my wedding. I remember a photo where he mimics a boxing match with my son at the Grand Hotel. Today is the birthday of my son who celebrated his fifth birthday and that it corresponds to the death of Jean-Paul, that does something to me, ”he confides.
Philippe Tabarot speaks of the actor as someone “humanly exceptional”. “I never saw him refuse a photo or an autograph. We talked a lot about sport, it was an encyclopedia ”. What about politics? “He had a political thought that he did not want to express publicly and it is not I who would reveal it”.
“In five minutes, he had managed to make everyone laugh”
Senator LR from Vaucluse, Jean-Baptiste Blanc also met the actor. “It was in 2017, at the Elysee Palace during the presentation of the Legion of Honor by François Hollande to Claude Brasseur,” he reports before adding. “Jean-Paul Belmondo was already weakened, but in a good mood and in five minutes, he had managed to make everyone laugh. It is the mark of the great actors. From a more senatorial point of view, I would say that a certain France is disappearing with him. In all the territories we were marked by his passage during filming. In any corner of the country you will find people who have memories of him ”.
“It’s a page of cinema that is turning. He was loved by the French because he embodied the myth of the actor, with his stunts, his comic and dramatic talent. He will have known how to shoot in popular films but also with demanding directors like Godard and Sautet, ”summarizes Laurent Lafon, centrist president of the Senate Culture Committee.
An emblematic actor of the New Wave, in the 1970s he turned to comedies and incredible adventures. He favors very “physical” roles with stunts, no liners, and punches. It is the period of super-cops, brawling machos and mobsters: “Cop or thug”, “The Professional” or even “L’As des aces”.
For more than twenty years, 48 of his films each exceeded one million admissions… Until “Solitaire” in 1987, his first major commercial failure.
He bounces back with the earthy character of Sam Lion in Claude Lelouch’s “Itinerary of a Spoiled Child” (1988). One of his biggest roles, with the César for best actor. Awarded a Palme d’honneur at Cannes in 2011, a Golden Lion in Venice in 2016, he is honored at the César 2017 where he received a long standing ovation. Cane in hand, “Bébel” once again delights the public by joking about his “dirty face”.
“In him we all found ourselves”
For Emmanuel Macron, Jean-Paul Belmondo will forever remain “The Magnificent”. “A national treasure, all in panache and bursts of laughter, the loud words and the swift body, sublime hero and familiar figure, tireless daredevil and magician of words. In him we all found ourselves, ”he tweeted.
“By his talent as an actor, his legendary banter, Jean-Paul Belmondo was a monument of the 7th art. Like millions of French people, his films will mark me forever. Goodbye friend! “, Tweeted, the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher.
“The Ace of As holds a special place in my mind with the denunciation of Nazism”, tweets the socialist senator, Rachid Temal for whom Jean-Paul Belmondo “will have accompanied” all his youth.
“He was very affected by the death of Jean-Pierre Marielle and Guy Bedos”
Born April 9, 1933 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, the young Belmondo grew up in a family of artists. His father is a recognized sculptor. He loves playing the clown and dreams of the theater. He joined the conservatory in the 1950s and formed a band “to life, to death” with his friends Jean Rochefort, Claude Rich, Bruno Crémer and Jean-Pierre Marielle.
“He was very affected by the death of Jean-Pierre Marielle and Guy Bedos. This is the first time this year that he has not gone down to the Côte d’Azur. We unfortunately knew that his death was inevitable, ”underlines Philippe Tabarot.
“Jean-Paul Belmondo devoted himself a lot to his father’s work. The Paul Belmondo museum is one of the cultural hotspots of Boulogne-Billancourt, ”recalls André Gattolin, RDPI senator (Rassemblement des democrats, progressistes et independants) from Hauts de Seine.
The memory of Jean-Paul Belmondo crosses the benches of the Senate. The Communist senator, Fabien Gay greets on Twitter one “of the last monuments of French cinema”. “The hero as we like him… so French. A movie monster is gone, ”writes Céline Boulay-Espéronnier, LR senator from Paris.
“We didn’t think he was capable of that. A new national wound ”, saddened this Monday, the former Prime Minister and former senator Jean-Pierre Raffarin.
“It’s astonishing but that should not surprise you”, could have answered him the Sam Lion the character “of Itinerary of a spoiled child”.
