He won great acclaim for his performance in 'Cyrano de Bergerac': Who is Gerard Depardieu?

French actor Gerard Depardieu, who made cinema lovers love him with his character Obelix despite the many characters he played, was born on December 27, 1948, in Chateauroux, Indre. The artist, who was introduced to alcohol and cigarettes at a very early age, ran away from home when he was only 12 years old and started living with two prostitutes named Michelle and Irène. Depardieu, who had to spend a while in prison when minor crimes were added to these habits, was released from prison at the age of 16 and returned to Paris.

FAME IS AT THE DOOR

During this period, a new page opened in the life of Depardieu, who participated in the acting auditions of Thétre Nationale Populaire and was successful. During these years, the artist, who brought characters created by writers such as Marguerite Duras, Peter Hanke, Israel Horowitz, and Moliere to the stage, took part in more than fifteen plays; However, he made his name known in 1973 with Bertrand Blier's film 'Les Valseuses'. This film created a new type of hero in French cinema and increased the actor's popularity tremendously.

Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu (born 27 December 1948) is a French actor, known to be one of the most prolific in film history. He has completed over 250 films since 1967, almost exclusively as a lead. Depardieu has worked with over 150 film directors whose most notable collaborations include Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Maurice Pialat, Alain Resnais, Claude Chabrol, Ridley Scott, and Bernardo Bertolucci.

Young Gerard, who worked with very important directors one after another in these years, starred in Claude Sautet's 'You, Me and Others' and Claude Goretta's 'Pas si méchant que ça' in 1974. In 1976, he starred in Barbet Schroeder's 'Mistress', Bernardo Bertolucci's '1900', and Marco Ferreri's 'The Last Woman', as well as the same director's 1977 film 'The Monkey Dream'. In these years, the artist made many more films such as 'Network' and 'Tell Him I Love You'.

FAMOUS WORLDWIDE

Depardieu, one of the actors who managed to take his fame abroad, took part in many films produced in England, Germany, Italy, and the USA. Depardieu, who was the most prolific European leading actor of the 1970s and 80s with his large size and tremendous acting talent, worked with directors such as Marguerite Duras, Francis Weber, Claude Sautet, François Truffaut, Claude Miller, Alain Resnais, Maurice Pialat, Claude Berri, In addition to leading French directors such as Bertrand Bilier, directors known for their blockbuster films such as Ridley Scott and Randall Wallace, and names between art cinema and commercial cinema such as Peter Weir and Kenneth Branagh are also included.

“I HAVE NO IMAGE”

Regarding his profession, he said, “I have no image. "I do not find it right for an actor to have a certain image, on the contrary, he should not be a representative of any image so that he can easily fit into different molds," said the artist, not only portraying legendary characters such as 'Danton', 'Cyrono', 'Rodin', and 'Vidocq' in accordance with their magnificence but also drawing from life. He brought the out-of-touch characters to the screen with modest simplicity.

GIANT BODY, GIANT TALENT

Even though his appearance changed with his increasing weight as the 90s approached, nothing diminished from his talent. In 1990, he won the 'Best Actor Award' and the 'César Award' at the Cannes Film Festival with his performance in 'Cyrano de Bergerac', adapted from Jean-Paul Rappeneau's play. He was also nominated for an Oscar and BAFTA for this role. The artist had previously received a Cesar Award for his performance in the 1980 film 'Last Metro'. Following his success with Cyrano, Depardieu created a different audience for himself by starring opposite Andie McDowell in "Green Card" directed by Peter Weir in the same year. After this experience, the artist, who starred in '1492 - The Discovery of Heaven, 'My Heroic Father', 'My Dream Friend' and 'Hamlet', also appeared in front of the camera with John Malkovich in the movie 'The Man in the Iron Mask'. This association was later carried over to the television adaptation of 'Les Misérables'.

BEHIND THE SCENES EXPERIENCE

The artist, who is also experienced behind the camera, directed 1984's 'Le Tartuffe' and co-produced 1988's 'A Strange Place to Meet' and Satyajit Ray's 'Shakha Proshaka/Branches of the Tree'.

DANGEROUS PLEASURE

Despite working so hard, this attitude of the artist, who did not give up some of his pleasures, was sometimes reflected in his health. In 1990, his driver's license was confiscated for 6 months for drunk driving and he was imprisoned for 2 months. In 1996, the plane he was on collided with another plane at the airport, but Depardieu escaped without injury. The artist, who had a serious motorcycle accident in 1998 and regained his health after being in a coma for a while, had bypass surgery in 2000. Depardieu was accused of eating with great pleasure and without paying attention to the amount, consuming a lot of alcohol, and not paying attention to himself. Although this clumsy body, which stutters from time to time, proves how strong he is, the artist must have learned a lesson from this and made an important decision for the rest of his life: 'Listen'. Depardieu: “After the surgery, I felt great admiration for my life. To my children, to my career, to cinema, to all the people who love me and whom I love. I decided, from now on I will listen to them, I will listen to everyone!” he says.

GREAT HONOR

The artist, who was awarded France's highest honor, 'Chevalier du Legion d'Honneur' in 1996, has two children, Guillaume and Julie, with his first wife, Elisabeth (Guignot) Depardieu, with whom he starred in many films. By the way, Guillaume is also an actor like his father. The last life partner of the actor, whose name was mentioned with Carole Bouquet in the mid-1990s after his relationship with Elisabeth ended, is Marie Lemieux, whom he married on June 11, 2001. Depardieu, who fits an average of three films into each year, manages to always stay on the agenda with his private life, as well as dozens of different characters he successfully portrays. In addition to acting, the artist is a good wine producer and has vineyards in the Loire and a textile company in Romania.

Gerard Depardieu is accused of sexually assaulting 13 women

April 2023

According to the research conducted by Mediapart, famous for revealing scandalous news in France, women using pseudonyms or real names claimed that the famous artist groped them, put his hands in their underwear, and said obscene words.

Mediapart brought up that these harassment and attacks have occurred in movies and television sets or in public places over the last two decades.

The actor has a bad record of sexual abuse allegations

Depardieu was accused of rape by film actress Charlotte Arnould in December 2020.

Charlotte Arnould is not among the 13 women who accused the famous actress of rape and sexual assault and transferred them to Mediapart.

Charlotte Arnould accused him of being raped at Depardieu's home in 2018 when she was 22 years old.