Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (9 April 1933 – 6 September 2021) was a French actor. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward, frequently portraying police officers and criminals in action thriller films. His best known credits include Breathless (1960), That Man from Rio (1964), Pierrot le Fou (1965), Borsalino (1970), and The Professional (1981). An undisputed box-office champion along with Louis de Funès and Alain Delon, Belmondo attracted nearly 160 million viewers over his 50-year career. Between 1969 and 1982, he starred in the four most popular films of the year in France, surpassed only by de Funès: The Brain (1969), Fear Over the City (1975), Animal (1977), Ace of Aces (1982).[2]

Belmondo frequently played heroic, brave, and virile characters, which made him popular with a wide audience both in France and abroad. Despite being heavily courted by Hollywood, Belmondo refused to appear in English-language films. During his career, he was called the French counterpart of actors such as James Dean, Marlon Brando and Humphrey Bogart. Described as an icon and national treasure of France, Belmondo was seen as an influential actor in French cinema and an important figure in shaping European cinema. In 1989, Belmondo won the César Award for Best Actor for his performance in Itinéraire d'un enfant gâté. He was nominated for two BAFTA Awards throughout his career. In 2011, Belmondo received the Palme d'honneur at the Cannes Film Festival, and in 2017 he received the César d'honneur at the 42nd César Awards.