cinema

Actor Guillaume Depardieu dies at 37

Monday 13 October 2008

The son of French film star Gérard Depardieu died Monday in a Paris area hospital from a bout of acute pneumonia, his agent said. An actor in his own right, he appeared in some 20 films, including Pierre Schoeller's 'Versailles'.

Guillaume Depardieu, the actor son of French film star Gérard Depardieu, died Monday in a Paris area hospital from a bout of acute pneumonia, his agent said. He was 37.
  
A spokesman for Artmedia, Gérard Depardieu's agency, said he had contracted a virus that developed into "a devastating case of pneumonia."

Guillaume Depardieu, whose mother, Elisabeth, was also an actor, appeared in close to 20 films, but his career was overshadowed at home and abroad by that of his charismatic father.

Despite being one of the biggest names in French cinema in his own right, Guillaume Depardieu was perhaps better known at home for his rebellious streak. He achieved notoriety for his bouts of drug and alcohol abuse, and for speeding, a combination of which landed him in prison earlier this year when he was convicted on a drunk-driving charge. In 2003, he had a leg amputated because of complications from a motorbike accident in 1995, for which he underwent 17 operations.

He acted several times opposite his father, in film and for television, but the two had a strained relationship, with Guillaume accusing his father of being largely absent during his childhood. The relationship was said to have improved after the two played the principal roles in "Aime ton père," or “Love your father,” a film by Jacob Berger, about the relationship between an author and his estranged son, released in 2002.

He played the lead role in two films screened at this year’s Cannes film festival, "Versailles", by Pierre Schoeller, and "De la guerre" (“Of war”), by Bertrand Bonello.