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Jean-Paul Belmondo, icon of French New Wave cinema, dies at 88

With his devil-may-care charm, Jean-Paul Belmondo, who has died aged 88, was the poster boy of the New Wave, France's James Dean and Humphrey Bogart rolled into one irresistible man.

Jean-Paul Belmondo, icon of French New Wave cinema, dies at 88
In 1977, French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo and US actress Raquel Welch during the filming of "Animal" directed by Claude Zidi in Paris. Photo: AFP.

With his boxer’s physique and broken nose, his restless insouciance chimed with the mould-breaking French cinema of the 1960s.

Director Jean-Luc Godard, the New Wave’s brilliant enfant terrible, cast Belmondo in his break-out role as a doomed thug who falls in love with the Jean Seberg’s pixie-like American in Paris in “Breathless” (1961).

The film floored critics and audiences worldwide and, with Francois Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows”, changed the history of cinema.

Actor Jean-Paul Belmondo (L), French tough-guy, beginner boxer, one of France’s future screen stars and a symbol of 1960s New Wave cinema, dodges a blow during a box match in the 1960s in Paris. Photo: AFP.

Time magazine in 1964 declared Belmondo the face of modern France. “The Tricolour, a snifter of cognac, a flaring hem – these have been demoted to secondary symbols of France,” it said.

“The primary symbol is an image of a young man slouching in a cafe chair… he is Jean-Paul Belmondo – the natural son of the Existentialist conception, standing for everything and nothing at 738 mph.”

A boxer’s charm

Yet Belmondo was far from a sauve intellectual and spent most of his career in he-man roles that played on his raw sex appeal.

Despite making his name as a charming gangster, the actor was brought up in the bourgeois Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, the son of a renowned sculptor, Paul Belmondo.

Jean-Paul Belmondo and Monique Hennessy perform parts in 1962 French director Jean-Pierre Melville movie “Le Doulos”. Photo: AFP.

Born in 1933, he performed poorly at school during the war but was a talented boxer, winning three straight round-one knockouts in a brief amateur career.

He then trained at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art.

His first foray into cinema in 1957 in the forgettable comedy “On Foot, On Horse and On Wheels”, ended up on the cutting-room floor.

But undeterred Belmondo went on to work with some of the most talented directors of his generation, making a trio of films with Godard, and then with Truffaut, Alain Resnais, Louis Malle and Jean-Pierre Melville.

Truffaut described him as “the most complete European actor” of his generation.

Action hero

The charmer was often cast opposite glamorous women, from Catherine Deneuve and Sophia Loren to Claudia Cardinale in the period romp “Cartouche”, and he constantly reworked his persona in diverse roles.

But from the 1970s he took on more bankable action movies in which he performed his own stunts.

Jean-Paul Belmondo smiles at the photographer in May 1974 during Cannes Film Festival. Photo: AFP.

Swashbuckling comic adventure films and farces such as “Swords of Blood” (1962) and the Oscar-nominated “That Man from Rio” (1964) introduced Belmondo to legions of new fans across the globe.

He enjoyed the mix of arthouse and more box office-friendly fare, saying, “It is like life. One day you laugh, the next you cry.”

Belmondo also briefly – and forgettably – ventured across the Atlantic for two English-language films, “Is Paris Burning?” in 1966 and the spoof James Bond “Casino Royale” a year later.

Cesar snub

In the 1980s Belmondo experimented with more mature dramatic roles, earning a French Oscar, a Cesar, for Claude Lelouch’s “Itinerary of a Spoiled Child” in 1988 about a foundling raised in a circus.

But he rejected the prize because the artist who sculpted the statuette, Cesar Baldaccini, had once disparaged the works of his father.

French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo poses on December 5th, 2016. Photo: JOEL SAGET / AFP.

Twice married and twice divorced he also lived with the ex-Bond actress Ursula Andress for seven years. Belmondo had four children including the racing driver, Paul Belmondo, with his youngest born in 2003 when he was 70.

His eldest daughter, Patricia, died in a fire in 1994.

He suffered a stroke in 2001 while on holiday in Corsica, which affected his speech, sparking a huge outpouring of love for the actor.

It effectively put an end to Belmondo’s career, though he did make one last touching movie as old man whose only consolation was his dog.

Worse was to follow. His final relationship with ex-Playboy model Barbara Gandolfi, who was 42 years his junior, ended in scandal in 2012 with her convicted of swindling the actor out of 200,000 euros.

But in 2016 the Venice film festival awarded him a Golden Lion for lifetime’s achievement.

“I never think about my past,” he told reporters there. “Forward, forward, forward.”

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FOOD AND DRINK

Three things to know about the new Paris cheese museum

The Musée Vivant du Fromage is due to open its doors in early June, promising a unique immersive and interactive journey into France’s ‘culinary and terroir heritage’.

Three things to know about the new Paris cheese museum

Paris will soon be home to a cheese museum.

The venue, on Rue Saint-Louis en l’Île, in the fourth arrondissement, will open to visitors on June 3rd, sending – no doubt – clouds of cheesy odours wafting daily down the street.

It will be at the same location as the former restaurant ‘Nos Ancêtres Les Gaulois’ (Our ancestors the Gauls), with the objective of becoming “an essential meeting place” for cheese lovers, as well as both novices and professionals within the industry.

Here are a few things to know about the new cheese museum;

It will be interactive

Fans of camembert, chèvre, brie, morbier, Roquefort and brebis, assemble! The museum promises an educational and fully interactive tour of France’s historic cheese heritage, including the science and varied tradition of cheese-making.

The first portion will give an overview of the ‘culture’ of cheese. Then, you will learn about its history, as well as how it is made and finish off with a tasting (dégustation).

READ MORE: Best Briehaviour: Your guide to French cheese etiquette

There’s a dairy and creamery

Part of the tour features a fully functional dairy, where visitors can witness cheese being produced before their very eyes. 

There are two goals for this part of the museum – to help people discover the different regions of France and their iconic cheeses, as well as to encourage young people  to consider careers in the farming and dairy industry, which is enduring something of a recruitment crisis in France.

You will also be able to purchase cheese and souvenirs at the museum’s boutique.

It can host private events

The museum can be booked for private catered events for up to 150 people in the evenings, from 7pm, with or without the services of a cheese expert, who can guide guests through tastings and demonstrations. 

READ ALSO 7 tips for buying French cheese

Tickets are advertised at €20 for adults and €10 for children. For more information and to book a visit, log on to website of the Musée Vivant du fromage. Blessed are the cheese makers!

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