Gerard Depardieu ©Georges Biard@wikipedia CC
A while back I went to see a great movie called Asterix et Obélix. The film itself bought back many memories of the cartoon books I used to read about their adventures and battles with the Roman invaders. This movie stole my heart for this reason but also because the star in it just happened to be one of my favourites. M. Gerard Depardieu starred in the role of Obélix, and for me he played the part superbly well.
I have always liked Depardieu, not because of his looks mind you, more for the wonderful charismatic person that he comes across as. For many years he has been the ‘wild boy’ of French cinema and has lived a life that most of us would think was pretty close to the edge at times. But one cannot help but admire him for this and I certainly do.
I have seen him in many films, he has been in over 150 since his career in the film industry first began. I have to admit to not seeing all of them, but the ones I did go to see were great. One of my favourites was the story of Camille Claudel which starred Isabelle Adjani who played the leading role but Depardieu as Auguste Rodin was just amazing.
Actor Gerard Depardieu © Marilane Borges@flickr CC-BY
Over the years he has played some wonderful parts including opposite Whoopi Goldberg in a film called Bogus and again I loved it. There were rumours that he and Miss Goldberg got married a year after the movie was made and this made quiet a bit of news at the time.
Carole Bouquet and Gerard Depardieu ©Georges Biard@wikipedia CC
As I mentioned earlier, Depardieu does tend to live close to the edge in real life and to date has suffered some rather dramatic consequences. He has managed to survive two near fatal accidents, one of which was a near plane collision and then a couple of years later a serious motorbike accident. He has also undergone some major heart surgery, but this just doesn’t seem to stop the actor from going from strength to strength.
I loved him in the movie ‘Love, Prozac and Other Curiosities’ as well as the camp character he portrayed in ’102 Dalmatians’ which was a great sequel to the first movie with Glen Close playing Cruella de Ville. Absolutely marvellous.
From humble beginnings, Gerard Depardieu was first a door-to-door salesman selling of all things, soap. He then became a beach boy in the South of France, he was also somewhat of a tearaway at the time and was becoming involved in black market goods and stolen cars, for which he paid the price, spell in gaol. His big break came when a friend convinced him to go for an audition at the Theatre Nationale Populaire in Paris. He then made his film debut in a movie called ‘Le Beatnik et le Minet’ and after this became one of the most familiar and I must say, unforgettable faces on television in France.