30 Unknown Facts About Gerard Depardieu We Bet You Never Knew

26 February 2019, 8:10 pm EST By Ruby Karnick

Gérard Depardieu, considered to be one of the most prolific character actors in film history, has earned a number of accolades in his acting career that started in the year 1964. Here are some really interesting facts about the Oscar nominated French actor:

With a total of 17 nominations of The César Award in his entire career, out of which he has won it two times in 1981 and 1991, he holds the record for having received more César nominations than any other actor.
He was honored with the British Film Institute Fellowship in the year 1989, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film culture.
With his one and only Oscar nomination for the role of Cyrano de Bergerac, he became the first actor to be nominated for playing the same role in another film version of a work that a different actor had previously won the award for. Another actor to have won the award was José Ferrer.
He is a very good friend of John Travolta, and it was reported that the latter asked him to be his French voice in the dubbed version of Brian De Palma's 1981 movie "Blow Out."
He was awarded with the Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur, the highest French order of merit, in the year 1996.
He was so engrossed in his titular role in the 1990 movie "Cyrano De Bergerac" that he refused to shave off his Cyrano beard for a long while, even after the completion of the film.
He was honored with the Jules Verne Lifetime Achievement Award in the year 2009 at the Jules Verne Festival, for his contribution in the field of cinema.
Depardieu was the best paid actor in the year 2005, with an earning of over EUR 800,000 per movie, reportedly for his movies "Let's Be Friends," "Boudu," and "How Much Do You Love Me?"
He chose acting as a career as his interest developed, while working as a beach boy in Cannes during the film festival and eventually went to Paris to get appropriate training.
In the year 2006, he was honored with Stanislavsky Award at the Moscow International Film Festival for his outstanding achievement in the career of acting.

Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu was born on December 27, 1948 in Châteauroux, Indre, France to René Maxime Lionel Depardieu and Anne Jeanne Josèphe.
His father René Maxime Lionel Depardieu was a volunteer fireman and a metal worker. He was one of the five children in the family.
At the age of thirteen, he quit schooling and started working at a printworks. He was reportedly involved in selling of stolen things and was even put on probation at a particular point.
He moved to Paris, when he was sixteen years old, and started acting in the new comedy theatre Café de la Gare, while studying dance under Jean-Laurent Cochet.
His early role as Bernard Granger in the François Truffaut's 1980 movie "The Last Metro," alongside Catherine Deneuve, earned him his first César Award for Best Actor.
He rose to international fame with his performance in the titular role in the 1990 movie "Cyrano de Bergerac," for which he received his second César Award for Best Actor almost after a decade from the first one.
Seeing his performance in the 1983 historical drama "Danton," writer-director Peter Weir wanted him to play the male lead role in his 1990 movie "Green Card," and the produced was even shelved for a year as Depardieu was not available for around twelve months.
In fact, Weir reworked the original screenplay specifically for Depardieu, with no other actor in consideration for the lead role. He even placed a photo of the French actor above his typewriter while reworking.
His performance as Georges in the "Green Card" movie, which was his first major motion picture theatrically released in the English language, earned him his first Golden Globe Award.
He is the only actor to appear in all Asterix films, based on the comic book series of the same name. He played the role of Obelix in all the four films.

He was offered a small part in the four-hour version of the movie "Hamlet," by Sir Kenneth Branagh, out of gratitude for Depardieu's active support on the release of his 1989 movie "Henry V" in France. Actually, it was Depardieu who dubbed Branagh's voice in the French version in the "Henry V" movie.
For his role as Andre in the 1994 movie "My Father the Hero," he, being an accomplished pianist, played live during the film.
For the French version of the movie "Mon Pere Ce Heros," he sang a song on the soundtrack for the credits. He offered to sing in the English version also, but was asked to perform "Thank Heavens for Little Girls" during a talent show.
During the filming of the 1999 movie "Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar," he reportedly met with a motorcycle accident and was hospitalized in Paris.
He suffered a heart attack and underwent emergency quintuple heart bypass surgery in Paris, France on July 10, 2000. He confessed on the "So Graham Norton" show that he travelled on his motorcycle to the hospital for his bypass operation.
He is the proud owner of two restaurants in Place Gaillon in Paris - namely the "La Fontaine Gaillon" and "L'Ecaille de la Fontaine."
He, an accomplished winemaker, owns vineyards in France, Italy, Argentina, Morocco and Algeria. He reportedly used to drink six bottles of red wine a day.
He was granted Russian citizenship by President Vladimir Putin on January 3, 2013, following his surrender of French passport and social security card, over bitter fight with the France government.
He married élisabeth Guignot in the year 1970, and has two children - an actor Guillaume Depardieu and - an actress Julie Depardieu. His son Guillaume died in the year 2008, due to the cause of severe viral pneumonia.
He has a daughter Roxanne Depardieu with model Karine Silla, a son with Hélène Bizot, daughter of François Bizot. He is currently living with his partner Clémentine Igou in Néchin, Belgium.