Gerard Depardieu biography, height, age, rape allegations, wife and children 2024

Biography of Gérard Depardieu

Gérard Depardieu is a French film star. How did a barely literate provincial boy, a stuttering silent type with a wild appearance, become a symbol of French cinema, winning numerous awards and honors, and becoming a Knight of the Legion of Honor? As a child, he dreamed of becoming a butcher, but fate gave him a lucky break, and Depardieu seemed to gain a happy youth he never had. He not only overcame his affliction but also played more than two hundred remarkable roles on stage and in film.

Childhood and Family

Gérard Xavier Marcel was born in the winter of 1948 to René Maxime Lionel Depardieu and Alice Jeanne Josépha Mariller. His parents met when Dédé (his father's nickname) moved from the village to Châteauroux, where he learned the trade of a roofer and began repairing roofs on city buildings.

Gérard Depardieu as a child (with his brother and sister)

Lillette, as Gérard's mother was called by close ones, was the daughter of a wartime pilot who retrained as a flight instructor after the war and worked at an airfield where a NATO base was later established.

In 1944, Châteauroux was under German occupation, but that didn't stop Dédé and Lillette from going to the town hall and getting married. A year later, they had their first child, Alain, and in 1947 a girl named Hélène was born. The money René earned wasn't enough. The family lived on the edge of poverty and received social benefits. When Lillette found out she was pregnant again, she unsuccessfully tried to terminate the pregnancy with a knitting needle. Gérard later admitted that sometimes, waking up in the middle of the night, he would feel his head to make sure there were no scars.

Gérard Depardieu with a photo of his parents

Soon, roofers were no longer needed in the area, and René started drinking. He gradually lost his skills, became a laborer, and then a cleaner at a factory. More and more often, he would leave home to get drunk at a nearby tavern, while their mother stayed with the children. Over the years, the family grew to six children: Gérard's sister Catherine and his two younger brothers, Franck and Éric. Gérard was present at their home births.

The already cold attitude of the parents towards their children became almost indifferent. The atmosphere at home had a depressing effect on Gérard, causing him to stutter even when saying the shortest phrases. Feeling inadequate, the boy preferred to communicate with gestures or interjections. As he grew older, he spent most of his time with peers at the NATO airbase near the town. Much later, in one of his books, Depardieu wrote:

You must understand that a childhood spent in Châteauroux is not a fabrication meant to add dramatic meaning to my biography. It was my world, and it remains so: the street, drunks, criminals who, if lucky, returned to the city after serving time. I still belong to the large street family. It's hard to break away; it holds you tightly, and it's the best part of you. I was happy with my gang, with NATO soldiers, with the prostitutes who served them. It was not a world of hardened villains and bandits. But it was another world.

Youth

In 1962, Depardieu completed his basic education and went straight to the city print shop, where he got a job as a printer. In his free time, he boxed. He didn't participate in serious sparring, especially after taking a hit to the nose. His opponent broke Depardieu's nose, and his intimidating appearance made him popular among friends and a winner in many bar brawls. As before, he frequently visited the American base, but now with a profit motive: he bought cigarettes, whiskey, jeans, and shirts there and sold them in the city for twice the price.

This activity was called "smuggling" in police jargon, so the young man often ended up at the police station. For participating in brawls between rival youth gangs, car thefts, and petty thefts, Gerard was frequently taken away in a van, but since he was still a minor, they handed him over to his mother with a warning that her son would end up badly with such behavior. When he turned 16, even Lillete's pleas didn't help: for another offense, Depardieu spent three weeks in a jail cell.

Besides that, the teenager often ran away from home and hitchhiked across the country, even reaching the Mediterranean Sea, working on beaches. This continued until 1964 when Gerard was brought to the hospital in an almost comatose state. He reeked of alcohol so much that the smell was overpowering. They practically "brought him back from the dead." The doctor warned: one more binge like that, and he wouldn't be able to do anything. That was when Depardieu first thought about changing his life.

One day at the train station, he met his classmate Michel Pilorge, who suggested going to Paris to enroll in a drama school. Remembering his "roles" with the gendarmerie and on French roads, where he pretended to be blind, mute, or acted "like a fool," Gerard suddenly decided: let's go. His older brother Alain was already studying at the Paris Institute of Architecture but couldn't accommodate him. Depardieu took up Michel's invitation, who promised that his student brothers would take them in—they would manage to fit four people.

In the fall of 1965, the provincial guys were warmly welcomed at the Austerlitz station, and the whole group went to an apartment on 54 Glacière Street. The next day, the young men went to the Dullin Theater Studio at the National People's Theatre, where children of wealthy parents took paid classes.

Gerard, who had no money at all, immediately caught the attention of Professor Lucien Arnaud. But when asked to recite a poem, he just shrugged. So the professor asked Depardieu to show a scene from life, and this is where the young man excelled. Unlike other applicants, he was uninhibited and free in expressing emotions. As an exception, they allowed the provincial talent to study at the drama school for free.

Gerard understood that he lacked education compared to others. With his unspent youthful zeal, he began reading books, watching movies, and going to theaters. To make a living, he went to the station to unload wagons, and his older brother and a friend from Chateauroux, who owned a bar, helped him a bit.

After some time, on the recommendation of fellow countryman Michel Arriyo, Depardieu joined Jean-Laurent Cochet's courses, where he had to follow strict discipline: diligently attend classes, memorize long texts, and go to rehearsals. Gerard managed to study for free here too, acting as an assistant director.

Once in Paris, Depardieu was transformed

Soon, Cochet also began to single out the young man from other students. He paid for Gerard's sessions with psychologist Alfred Tomatis and instructed his assistant, Odette Laure, to teach the student movement techniques. Within a year, Depardieu was unrecognizable. He was even offered a role in Roger Linar's short film "The Beatnik and the Snob," where he played the lead role.

The debut was successful, and Depardieu was invited to continue acting. After finishing the courses, he started performing in an amateur theater at Café de la Gare. It was here that he had a fateful meeting with director Bertrand Blier, which marked the beginning of Gerard's rise as an actor.

The Beginning: "Going Places"

Blier planned to adapt his own novel "Going Places," but he struggled to find the right actors for a long time. He had tried out 50-60 people for all the roles, but none fit the main characters perfectly. It was only when visiting Café de la Gare that Bertrand immediately saw his Pierrot in Patrick Dewaere.

When meeting Depardieu, the director initially thought he was "too rustic" for the role of the second main character, Jean-Claude. But Gérard wasn't one to give up easily. To prove to the producers that he was the right choice, he started showing up at their office in various costumes and began behaving like the film's character in real life: causing scenes in restaurants, getting into fights, and even facing court for one of them. As a result, Blier decided that Depardieu, Dewaere, and Miou-Miou would star in the film.

Patrick Dewaere and Gérard Depardieu in the film 'Going Places'

The novel he wrote was considered revolutionary in France, captivating all progressive youth, but it also provoked the endless wrath of the sanctimonious. It should be noted that the translation of the title "Les Valseuses" is inaccurate, as it’s French slang (a more precise translation would be "bastards"). The director decided to make the film an "intentional aggression against the audience," to shake them up rather than lull them to sleep.

And he succeeded, thanks to the brilliant performances of the actors. The film's characters, both natural in their ignorance and rudeness and noble in their emotional outbursts, accurately depicted the spirit of freedom of the late sixties, known as the sexual revolution. Depardieu, whose character is named Jean-Claude, used slang so disarmingly that it provoked approving laughter and applause from the young audience. Gérard described his work on the film and his character as follows:

It's a wonderful role. I immediately got into it completely, playing a guy who doesn't want to live a boring life at all. He wants to experience as many emotions as possible and live life at a hundred miles per hour. But to satisfy such a thirst, he has to break laws and societal taboos. Stealing cars, robberies – all these wild acts he commits to escape boredom and monotony and feel the fullness of life.

The film caused an unprecedented stir. It was called the most scandalous film of 1974 and simultaneously "the most stunning." Depardieu became almost a national hero among the youth and a highly sought-after actor.

But fame had a downside: he found it very difficult when he was bombarded with offers to play another "charming scoundrel," a typecast he didn't want to be stuck in. However, as the actor himself once noted, he had to "deal with it": Depardieu played many negative roles, such as a doctor in "Seven Deaths by Prescription," a rogue aristocrat in "Sugar," and Morel the trainer in "The Dogs."

Nevertheless, his filmography also includes other bright and multifaceted roles, showcasing Gérard's psychological depth and dramatic talent.

Career Highlights

Depardieu is one of the few French actors who managed to become popular first in Italy and then in Hollywood. For example, Bernardo Bertolucci cast Depardieu as Olmo Dalcò in the five-hour epic drama "1900" (1976). His co-stars included Robert De Niro, Burt Lancaster, and Donald Sutherland.

In the drama "The Last Metro" (1980), he played actor Bernard Granger, and his on-screen love Marion Steiner was played by Catherine Deneuve. For this role, Depardieu received his first César Award.

Gérard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve in 'The Last Metro'

The actor was also inimitable in comedy, which audiences appreciated while enjoying his performances in films like "ComDads," "Knock on Wood," and "The Fugitives." His partnership with Pierre Richard brought Gérard new global popularity. The actors appeared together in five feature films and one short film.

Pierre Richard and Gérard Depardieu in 'La Chèvre'

Another milestone in Depardieu's brilliant acting career was Jean-Paul Rappeneau's film "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1990), where he was inimitable as the main character. This role earned him an Oscar nomination, another César Award, and the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor.

After "Cyrano," Gérard was invited to play leading roles in Hollywood films such as "Green Card" (with Andie MacDowell), "My Father the Hero" (with Christian Clavier), and "102 Dalmatians" (with Glenn Close). Depardieu was incredibly comic in the fairy tale saga about Asterix and Obelix. In 1997, he received the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for his contribution to world cinema.

The 2000s began for Gérard with filming in Russia. He played Bernard in Vladimir Menshov's drama "Envy of the Gods" (2000). The actor often expressed his love for Russian classics. In addition to playing Grigori Rasputin ("Rasputin," 2013) and Joseph Stalin ("The Kremlin, 2016"), he starred in the drama "Victor," playing the main role of former gangster and art thief Victor Lambert.

In 2013, he even became a Russian citizen. This step was appreciated not only by the Russian president Vladimir Putin but also by the president of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, who gifted Depardieu a five-room apartment in central Grozny.

Russian Citizenship

In December 2012, Gérard Depardieu moved to Belgium to avoid paying the luxury tax. Shortly after, he renounced his French citizenship. Depardieu said, "I am a citizen of the world, not of France."

In January 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin granted Gérard Russian citizenship. Depardieu explained his desire to obtain Russian citizenship as follows: After receiving his Russian passport, Gérard visited Mordovia, where he was offered the position of regional Minister of Culture, as well as a choice between an apartment or a private house. Ultimately, the actor registered in the city of Saransk, on Demokraticheskaya Street.

Personal Life of Gérard Depardieu

In his youth, starting at age 10, Gérard, who looked older than his years, provided sexual services to men, as he honestly recounted in his autobiography "It Happened Like That." He also wrote about robbing participants of the 1968 student protests and helping adults loot graves to take shoes and valuables from the deceased.

At 20, a thief raged inside me. I robbed some clients. I beat them and took all their money.

Despite his turbulent past and provocative film roles, Gérard was a model family man for a long time. He was twenty when he met a girl from an aristocratic family in Grenoble, Élisabeth Guignot, during a course with Coche. She was engaged to an artist at the time. But Depardieu, with all the fervor and awkwardness of a country bumpkin, began courting Élisabeth. Much later, he would say that their meeting was "a meeting of two opposite worlds."

The girl was scared of this uneducated giant but saw how talented he was. Élisabeth admitted that what frightened her most was not the social disparity or the cultural gap that initially separated them, but that she was six years older than Gérard. However, this twenty-year-old boy attracted her like a magnet. He immediately told Élisabeth that he intended to marry her and have children. None of her suitors compared to the sincere and loving Depardieu.

Gérard Depardieu with his wife in New York

She broke up with the artist, and in 1970, she married the future global movie star. A year later, their firstborn Guillaume was born (he died of pneumonia in 2008), and two years later, their daughter Julie was born.

Gérard Depardieu with his wife and children

In 1988, Depardieu wrote in his book that he would love Élisabeth all his life. But only four years later, his wife found out that the black model and actress Karine Silla had given birth to a daughter named Roxane by her husband. Élisabeth and Gérard separated, and their children distanced themselves from him for a while. In 1996, Guignot filed for divorce.

Gérard Depardieu, Karine Silla, and their daughter Roxane

Karine managed to keep her lover's attention for a short time. A year after filming "Too Beautiful for You," Depardieu left her for actress Carole Bouquet, whom he had met in 1979 during the filming of "Cold Buffet" and had kept in touch with. Their romance began in 1994, during Depardieu's filming in Hollywood. They split in 2005 without giving reasons. In one interview, the actor mentioned that Carole would be a perfect woman if not for her jealousy...

Moreover, in 2006, the actor acknowledged a boy named Jean, born to Hélène Bizot, daughter of a famous Khmer Buddhist, as his son. Their romance was brief, during Gérard's fascination with Buddhism.

Gérard Depardieu Now

In 2021, the actor struggled most with restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a self-proclaimed citizen of the world, he loves to travel freely from country to country. However, Depardieu didn't just sit idle. Along with his friend Mathieu Sapin (a director and designer), he began creating an animated series for adults tentatively titled "Depardieu seul le sait" ("Only Depardieu Knows!") According to French publications, the production center Toon Factory will handle its realization.

In addition, the actor is involved in a new project by Artak Igityan titled "Anatolian Story," where he will play the role of lawyer Blumenthal.

Rape Allegations

Back in 1978, Depardieu admitted in an interview that he had repeatedly engaged in sexual violence in his youth, starting at the age of nine. When asked how many times he had raped women, the actor said:

Too many to count... There was nothing wrong with it. The girls wanted to be raped. I mean, rape doesn’t exist. It’s a situation they want to be in.

In 1991, this story resurfaced in a Time magazine article. Depardieu's press office stated that the publication had mistranslated the actor's words, saying he meant that he had witnessed rapes.

In 2018, actress Charlotte Arnould, the daughter of a close friend of Depardieu, claimed that Depardieu raped her twice: on August 7 and 13, 2018. An investigation began, but no evidence was found, and the case was closed after 9 months. The victim filed another complaint, and in October 2020, the case was reopened, with the actor under investigation.

Other victims' confessions began to appear in the press. By April 2023, there were 13 of them, and only then did Depardieu comment on the allegations, publishing an open letter in the satirical magazine FigaroVox. He claimed he was too well-mannered to insult a woman and that his sexual contact with Arnould was consensual:

A woman came to my house for the first time, walked lightly up to my room of her own free will. Now she says she was raped there. She came back a second time. There was never any coercion, violence, or protest between us.

At the end of 2023, another woman, journalist Ruth Basa, accused Depardieu of harassment. In 1995, the 23-year-old was interviewing the actor when, under the influence of alcohol, he touched her under her clothes, kissed her, and then raped her.

In December 2023, Emmanuelle Debever, one of the women who accused Depardieu of harassment (she claimed the actor harassed her during joint filming in 1982), committed suicide on the day of the premiere of the documentary "Depardieu: The Fall of the Ogre," which detailed episodes of the actor's indecent behavior. The filmmakers interviewed four women who accused Depardieu of harassment.

After the premiere, members of the French film industry, including Sophie Marceau, Muriel Robin, and Swann Arlaud, stated they would no longer work with actor Gérard Depardieu. However, many of the actor's colleagues, such as Pierre Richard, defended him, calling the accusations a "witch hunt."

On April 29, 2024, police detained Gérard Depardieu. He was taken to the station for questioning. "Gérard Depardieu was summoned on Monday morning and placed in police custody on charges of sexual violence," reported several French publications. It was reported that Depardieu faced up to 15 years in prison. The actor was soon released, but in August of that year, the Paris prosecutor's office brought charges and demanded the case be brought to court.