Cigarette in mouth, rogue smile and rugged good looks, Jean-Paul Belmondo film presence was a leading man in French film's golden age.
Passing away at the age of 88, the laconic rebel hit the big time with Jean-Luc Godard's trailblazing New Wave classic 'Breathless' and continued to be a blockbuster banker in the 60s, 70s and 80s.
Sometimes referred to as the 'Gallic James Dean', Belmondo's 'beaten-up' handsomeness was in stark contract to the clean-cut stars of traditional Hollywood. One critic commented harshly that he was 'a bewitchingly ugly man'.
Belmondo is an icon of French cinema and the European renaissance of film-making starting in the late 50s, which explored new approaches to lighting, dialogue and editing.
Born in Paris suburb Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1933, he was brought up in a bohemian home. His father was Paul Belmondo, a sculptor whose works can be viewed in many Parisian parks.
Jean-Paul failed at school and soon took up amateur boxing, winning 15 of his 23 fights before hanging up his gloves to concentrate on acting.
Belmondo claimed: "I stopped when the face I saw in the mirror began to change."
The trademark flattened-nosed Frenchman attended private drama school in his teenage years, then went on to study at the Conservatoire of Dramatic Arts in Paris.
On the strength of his performances at local theatres, he was given the film role of Laszlo in Les Tricheurs, 1958.
It wasn't long before he was given his first starring credit, in Godard's 1960 hit Breathless.
Belmondo was long a target for big Hollywood productions, but the Frenchman preferred starring in his native tongue.
"He won't make films outside of France," said director Mark Robson.
"He has scripts stacked up and he doesn't see why he should jeopardise his great success by speaking English instead of French."
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