Jean-Paul Belmondo, R.I.P.

By A (Longtime) California Reader

Tue, Sep 7, 2021 6:32 a.m.

Jean-Paul Belmondo, R.I.P.

https://www.rt.com/news/534080-jean-paul-belmondo-obit/

Legendary French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo dies at 88 French New Wave star Jean-Paul Belmondo, perhaps best known for roles in "Breathless" and "Le Professionel", has...

ACR: His films were part of my youth, especially That Man from Rio, a wonderful adventure spoof co-starring the beautiful Françoise Dorléac. 

According to wikipedia,

"Jean-Paul Belmondo's personal tastes were Tintin comics, sports magazines and detective novels. He said he preferred 'making adventure films like Rio to the intellectual movies of Alain Renais or Alain Robbe-Grillet.'" 

Good for him!

N.S.: I watched That Man from Rio with my nana on TV, circa 1971. I recall enjoying it, but little else. I think maybe the protagonist was on the move a lot, like in a James Bond movie. I believe it made the new york times' Ten Best List that year.

Rio co-star Françoise Dorléac was completely foreign to me, and so I looked up the picture at imdb.com. Well, there's a back story, and not a happy one.

The beautiful, talented Françoise Dorléac was a very busy young actress, who was only about 21 when she made Rio.

Her kid sister followed her into the business. She wasn't half-bad looking, and she had some talent. She's still around. You may have heard of her: Her name is Catherine Deneuve.

The sisters made three pictures together.

Françoise Dorléac is, unfortunately, no longer around. In 1967, she was driving a rental car in Nice. The car flipped over, and exploded in flames, killing Dorléac. She was only 25.