Line #56 Creator/GerardDepardieu


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/photo-noir-et-blanc-gerard-depardieu4_8428.jpg]]
2	->''"I'm an actor. And it is, for me, an opportunity to meet people. One of the advantages of my profession is I come into contact with many people."''
3
4	Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu (born 27 December 1948 in Châteauroux) is one of the most prominent and prolific UsefulNotes/{{Fr\|ance}}ench actors since TheSeventies.
5
6	He first performed at the UsefulNotes/{{Paris}}ian Café de la Gare, and got his [[StarMakingRole major break]] (along with Creator/PatrickDewaere and Miou-Miou, his comrade performers at the Café de la Gare) in 1974 with the film ''Film/LesValseuses''. He's had around 250 acting credits since his debut in 1967.
7
8	Basically, he's been a go-to guy for leading roles in {{Period Piece}}s (either {{Historical Domain Character}}s or historical novel protagonists), as well as BigFun, BigEater and BoisterousBruiser roles in French cinema -- most often requiring to be a LargeHam, which he seems born to play. While most of his box office successes were comedies, the man's got range, as he garnered much critical acclaim for his dramatic roles in pictures such as ''Film/TheLastMetro'', ''Film/CyranoDeBergerac'' or ''Mammuth''. He's dabbled in English-language cinema, usually playing (of course) eccentric Frenchmen, starting with the romantic comedy ''Film/GreenCard''.
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10	He has also headlined several prestige PeriodPiece {{miniseries}} on French television since the late 90s. His roles in these include [[BestServedCold Edmond Dantès]] in ''Series/{{The Count of Monte Cristo\|1998}}'' (1998), Jean Valjean in ''Literature/LesMiserables'' (2000), Joseph Fouché in ''[[Series/Napoleon2002 Napoléon]]'' (2002), UsefulNotes/GrigoriRasputin in ''Rasputin'' (2011) and UsefulNotes/{{Nostradamus}} in ''Diane de Poitiers'' (2022). Speaking of Rasputin, he's [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff quite popular]] in UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}, he even officially became a Russian citizen in 2013, and was even offered to become Minister of Culture of the [[UsefulNotes/TheGloriousFederalSubjects Republic of Mordovia]] at one point (he politely declined). Since 2022 he also holds citizenship from the UsefulNotes/UnitedArabEmirates. Since the [=#MeToo=] movement days in the late 2010s, he's caused scandals with his documented lewd behavior and several rape allegations.
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12	Two out of his four children became actors, namely Creator/{{Julie\|Depardieu}} (born in 1973), and Guillaume (1971-2008). Guillaume died of pneumonia at age 37 while filming in Romania.
13	----
14	[[folder:Selected Filmography]]
15	!!Films:
16	* ''Film/LaScoumoune'' (1972) as a mob thug
17	* ''Film/LesValseuses'' (1974) as Jean-Claude
18	* ''Vincent, François, Paul... et les autres'' (1974) as Jean
19	* ''The Last Woman'' (1976) as Gérard
20	* ''[[Film/{{Novecento}} 1900]]'' (1976) as Olmo
21	* ''Film/GetOutYourHandkerchiefs'' (1978) as Raoul
22	* ''Buffet froid'' (1979) as Alphonse Tram
23	* ''Film/TheLastMetro'' (1980) as Bernard Granger
24	* ''[[Film/MonOncleDAmerique Mon oncle d'Amérique]]'' (1980) as René
25	* ''Film/InspectorBlunder'' (1980) as Roger Morzini
26	* ''Film/LaChevre'' (1981) as Campana
27	* ''Film/TheWomanNextDoor'' (1981)
28	* ''Film/TheReturnOfMartinGuerre'' (1982)
29	* ''[[Film/LesComperes Les Compères]]'' (1983) as Lucas
30	* ''Film/{{Danton}}'' (1983) as [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolutionMajorFigures Georges Jacques Danton]]
31	* ''Film/{{Police}}'' (1985) as Mangin
32	* ''Film/LesFugitifs'' (1986) as Lucas
33	* ''[[Film/ManonDesSources Jean de Florette]]'' (1986) as Jean de Florette
34	* ''Film/UnderTheSunOfSatan'' (1987) as Donissan
35	* ''Film/CamilleClaudel'' (1988) as Creator/AugusteRodin
36	* ''Film/GreenCard'' (1990) as Georges Fauré
37	* ''Film/CyranoDeBergerac'' (1990) as Cyrano
38	* ''Film/{{Uranus\|1990}}'' (1990) as Léopold Lajeunesse
39	* ''Mon père, ce héros'' (1991) as André Arnel
40	** ''[[ForeignRemake My Father the Hero]]'' (1994) as André
41	* ''Film/FourteenNinetyTwoConquestOfParadise'' (1992) as UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus
42	* ''Literature/{{Germinal}}'' (1993) as Toussaint Maheu
43	* ''Colonel Chabert'' (1994) as Hyacinthe Chabert
44	* ''Film/APureFormality'' (1994) as Onoff
45	* ''Film/GuardianAngels'' (1995) as Antoine Carco and Carco's GuardianAngel
46	* ''Film/TheBestJobInTheWorld'' (1996) as Laurent Monier
47	* ''Bogus'' (1996) as Bogus
48	* ''Film/TheManInTheIronMask'' (1998) as Porthos
49	* ''Franchise/{{Asterix}}'' live-action film series as [[ComicBook/{{Asterix}} Obélix]]
50	** ''Film/AsterixAndObelixTakeOnCaesar'' (1999)
51	** ''Film/AsterixAndObelixMissionCleopatra'' (2002)
52	** ''Film/AsterixAtTheOlympicGames'' (2008)
53	** ''Film/AsterixAndObelixGodSaveBritannia'' (2012)
54	* ''Film/OneHundredAndTwoDalmatians'' (2000) as Jean-Pierre Le Pelt
55	* ''Film/{{Vidocq}}'' (2001) as Eugène-François Vidocq
56	* ''Film/TheCloset'' (2001) as Félix Santini
57	* ''Film/{{Blanche}}'' (2002) as [[Literature/TheThreeMusketeers D'Artagnan]]
58	* ''Film/{{Nathalie}}'' (2003) as Bernard
59	* ''Tais-toi!'' (''Ruby & Quentin'', 2003) as Quentin
60	* ''Film/RRRrrr'' (2004) as the Chief of the Dirty Hair tribe
61	* ''Film/TrenteSixQuaiDesOrfevres'' (''Department 36'', 2004) as Denis Klein
62	* ''Last Holiday'' (2006) as Chef Didier
63	* ''Film/LaVieEnRose'' (2007) as Louis Leplée (Music/EdithPiaf's first manager)
64	* ''[[Film/{{Mesrine}} Mesrine: Killer Instinct]]'' (2008) as Guido
65	* ''Film/Dumas2010'' as Creator/AlexandreDumas
66	* ''Film/{{Potiche}}'' (2010)
67	* ''Film/LifeOfPi'' (2012) as the Cook
68	* ''Film/TheMarkOfTheAngelsMiserere'' (2013) as Lionel Kasdan
69	* ''Welcome to New York'' (2014) as Mr. Devereux [[note]][[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed thinly disguised]] {{Expy}} of Dominique Strauss-Kahn[[/note]]
70	* ''Film/UnitedPassions'' (2014) as Jules Rimet
71	* ''Film/SoloSeViveUnaVez'' (2017) as Duges
72	* ''Stalin's Couch'' (2017) as UsefulNotes/JosefStalin
73	* ''Film/{{Maigret\|2022}}'' (2022) as [[Literature/{{Maigret}} Commissioner Jules Maigret]]
74
75	!!TV Productions:
76	* ''Series/{{The Count of Monte Cristo\|1998}}'' (1998) as Edmond Dantès/The Count of Monte Cristo
77	* ''Balzac'' (1999) as Creator/HonoreDeBalzac
78	* ''[[Series/LesMiserables2000 Les Misérables]]'' (2000) as Jean Valjean
79	* ''[[Series/Napoleon2002 Napoléon]]'' (2002) as Joseph Fouché
80	* ''Theatre/RuyBlas'' (2002) as Don Salluste
81	* ''La Femme Musketeer'' (2004) as UsefulNotes/CardinalMazarin
82	* ''Literature/TheAccursedKings'' (2005) as [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar Jacques de Molay]]
83	* ''Rasputin'' (2011) as UsefulNotes/GrigoriRasputin
84	* ''Marseille'' (Creator/{{Netflix}} series, 2016-2018) as Mayor Robert Taro
85	* ''The King's Favorite'' (2022) as UsefulNotes/{{Nostradamus}}
86
87	!!Voice Work:
88	* ''Film/BlowOut'' (1981) as Jack Terry (French dub)
89	* ''Film/{{Henry V\|1989}}'' (1989) as Henry V (French dub)
90	* ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'' (2000) as Rocky (French dub)
91	* ''WesternAnimation/SgtStubbyAnAmericanHero'' (2018) as Gaston Baptiste (voice in English and French dub)
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	!!Tropes in his films:
95
96	* BigEater: Some of his roles since the late 1990s are big eaters, such as Obelix.
97	* BigFun: While he's been acting in comedies since the late 1970s, he's been heavyset since the late 1990s only.
98	* BoisterousBruiser: When playing loud swashbuckling heroes like Film/{{Cyrano\|De Bergerac}} or [[Film/TheManInTheIronMask Porthos]]. And there's [[Franchise/{{Asterix}} Obelix]], of course.
99	* TheDanza: Plays a man called "Gérard" in ''The Last Woman''.
100	* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: Played [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolutionMajorFigures the eponymous character]] in the biopic ''Danton''. Danton was famously ugly.
101	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: He's played quite a bunch of them, including [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolutionMajorFigures Georges Jacques Danton]], Creator/AugusteRodin, Cyrano de Bergerac (the [[Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac Edmond Rostand version]], but still with bits of the real article), BaroqueMusic composer Marin Marais, 17th century party/kitchen manager François Vatel, UsefulNotes/{{Napoleon\|Bonaparte}}ic minister Joseph Fouché, UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus, writers Creator/AlexandreDumas and Creator/HonoreDeBalzac, [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar Jacques de Molay]], UsefulNotes/CardinalMazarin, UsefulNotes/GrigoriRasputin, association football administrator Jules Rimet, Ottoman Empire statesman Hussein Dey, UsefulNotes/JosefStalin, French lawyer and Senator Henry Torrès and UsefulNotes/{{Nostradamus}}.
102	* {{Japandering}}: He appeared in commercials for Barilla pastas that were broadcast in both France and Italy in the 1990s, and more recently he appeared in commercials for the watch brand CVSTOS that were aimed at the Russian market.
103	* LargeHam: A poster-guy for this ever since ''Cyrano'' (though he had shades of this in the 1980s Creator/FrancisVeber films he appeared in and with ''Film/{{Danton}}''). He perfectly knows when to ham it up and when not to.
104	* {{Miniseries}}: He was THE leading actor of the trend of French {{historical\|Fiction}} miniseries at the turn of the millennium, starting with ''Series/{{The Count of Monte Cristo\|1998}}'' in 1998 and ending circa 2005 with a TV adaptation of ''Literature/TheAccursedKings''.
105	* MrFanservice: Before being known as a boisterous fat guy, he was more like this in his youth, showing his young and fit naked male body in movies like ''Les Valseuses'', ''The Last Woman'' or ''Bye Bye Monkey''.
106	* {{Period Piece}}s: Half of his filmography, if not more, is made of period dramas.
107	* ProductionPosse:
108	** Creator/FrancisVeber often casts him in his comedies.
109	** Bertrand Blier directed him four times.
110	** {{Period piece}} TV films/mini-series director Josée Dayan also often casts him in the leading role.
111	* ThoseTwoActors:
112	** He appeared alongside his Café de la Gare comrades Creator/PatrickDewaere and Miou-Miou in ''Film/LesValseuses'' and ''Film/GetOutYourHandkerchiefs''.
113	** He has appeared alongside Creator/CatherineDeneuve in 10 films since 1980.
114	** Depardieu and Creator/PierreRichard have formed an OddCouple in three comedy films directed by Creator/FrancisVeber -- ''Film/LaChevre'', ''Film/LesComperes'' and ''Film/LesFugitifs''.
115	** He appeared alongside Creator/ChristianClavier in ''Film/GuardianAngels'', ''[[Series/LesMiserables2000 Les Misérables]]'', ''[[Series/Napoleon2002 Napoléon]]'' and in the first two ''Franchise/{{Asterix}}'' films. Director Bertrand Blier reunited them in ''Convoi Exceptionnel'' in 2019.
116	** He has played alongside Creator/DanielAuteuil in ''[[Film/ManonDesSources Jean de Florette]]'', ''Film/TheCloset'', ''Film/TrenteSixQuaiDesOrfevres'' and ''The Other Woman''.
117	** He's also played alongside Creator/IsabelleHuppert three times, in ''Film/LesValseuses'', ''Loulou'' and ''Valley of Love''.

Context Creator / GerardDepardieu