Guillaume Depardieu

Guillaume Depardieu (7 April 1971 – 13 October 2008) was a French actor, winner of a César Award, and the eldest son of Gérard Depardieu.

Early life

Depardieu was the son of actor Gérard Depardieu and his first wife, actress Élisabeth Depardieu (née Guignot). He was the brother of actress Julie Depardieu and half-brother of Roxane and Jean Depardieu.

Career

Guillaume shared the screen with his father several times throughout his career, beginning with his first film role, aged three, playing Gérard's son in Claude Goretta's That Wonderful Crook ("Pas Si Méchant Que Ça") in 1974. His next appearance beside his father was in Tous les matins du monde in 1993, followed by Count of Monte Cristo in 1998, and Aime Ton Père (titled "A Loving Father" in English) in 2002. In 1996 he won a César Award (France's national film awards) as the most promising newcomer in Les Apprentis. In 2007, he began rebuilding his career with the films Don't Touch the Axe ("Ne Touchez Pas La Hache") and La France, and starred in the 2008 film De la guerre.

Personal life

Depardieu married actress Elise Ventre on 30 December 1999. They had a daughter Louise, and separated in 2001. Guillaume was known to have had a strained relationship with his famous father, which he detailed in his 2004 autobiography Tout Donner (Giving Everything). The two were said to have reconciled shortly before his death.

Guillaume was often called an enfant terrible by the French magazine Paris Match and was called eccentric and bohemian by others. By 1993, he had already served two jail sentences for drug offences which included dealing heroin and theft. In 2003, he was fined and given a nine-month suspended prison sentence for threatening a man with a gun. In 2008 he was arrested for driving his scooter while intoxicated.

In 1995 Depardieu suffered a motorcycle accident due to a suitcase that fell off a vehicle in front of him which required him to have surgery on his knee. In the hospital he contracted a Staphylococcus aureus infection in the knee, which led to 17 operations and the eventual amputation of the leg in June 2003.

Death

Guillaume Depardieu died on 13 October 2008, at the Garches hospital, aged 37, after contracting severe viral pneumonia at a filming location in Romania, where he had been working on a new film, L'Enfance d'Icare.

Filmography

Cinema

Guillaume Depardieu at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.

1974 Pas si méchant que ça

1992 Tous les matins du monde    

1993 Cible émouvante    

1995 Les apprentis    

1997 Marthe,     Alliance cherche doigt    

1998 Comme elle respire    

1998 The Count of Monte Cristo    

1999 POLA X    

2000 Elle et lui au 14e étage,     Les marchands de sable    

2001 Amour, prozac et autres curiosités    

2002 Peau d'Ange,     A Loving Father,     Le pharmacien de garde    

2004 Process    

2006 Celibataires    

2007 The Duchess of Langeais,     La France    

2008 De la guerre ,    Versailles,     Stella,     Les inséparables    

2009 A Real Life    

TV

• Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (1999)
• Les Misérables (2000)
• Napoleon (2002)
• The Accursed Kings (2005)
• Château en Suède (2008)