Jean-Paul Belmondo, French Actor and Star of ‘Breathless,’ Dies at 88

Jean-Paul Belmondo, the French cinema star best known for his performance in Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless” in 1959, has died, his lawyer confirmed to the news agency AFP on Monday. He was 88.

A cause of death has not been made public.

Belmondo skyrocketed to international fame after appearing in Jean-Luc Godard’s New Wave French classic, “Breathless,” in 1959 and became one of the country’s biggest stars throughout the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.

Born in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, the young Belmondo became an amateur boxer and, in fact, had an undefeated record. But that calling to fight for a living changed when, as he put it, “I stopped when the face I saw in the mirror began to change.”

His interests shifted to acting and spent his later teen years at a private drama school and he started to perform comedy sketches in the provinces. After studying for three years at the Conservatoire of Dramatic Arts, his professional acting career began in 1953 when he appeared on stage in “Medee” and “Zamore,” and later began touring.

His first film role – in 1957’s “On Foot, on Horse, and on Wheels” – ended up on the cutting room floor, but he was in the final cut of his follow-up film, “A Dog, a Mouse, and a Sputnik,” which was also a bigger part.

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