Guillaume Depardieu

Guillaume Jean Maxime Antoine Depardieu (7 April 1971 – 13 October 2008) was a French actor, winner of a César Award, and the oldest child of Gérard Depardieu.

Early life Depardieu was the son of actor Gérard Depardieu and his wife, actress Élisabeth Depardieu (née Guignot). He was the older brother of actress Julie Depardieu. His two half-siblings, Roxane and Jean, were born when he was an adult.

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 (1991) where they portrayed the same character at different ages: this was also the younger Depardieu's breakthrough role. They again portrayed twice the same character, in the miniseries Count of Monte Cristo (1998) and Les Misérables (2000) where they played respectively Edmond Dantès and Jean Valjean. They co-starred in A Loving Father (Aime ton père) in 2002, this time playing different characters.

In 1996, Depardieu won a César Award (France's national film award) as the most promising newcomer in the comedy The Apprentices (Les Apprentis). Several starring roles followed, but Depardieu's career was affected by his chaotic personal life which included drug addiction, several prison sentences and health problems that eventually required the amputation of a leg. In 2007, he began rebuilding his career with the films The Duchess of Langeais ( Ne touchez pas la hache) and La France and starred in the 2008 film De la guerre. He detailed their relationship in his 2004 autobiography Tout Donner (Giving Everything). Depardieu was said to have reconciled with his father 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 crashed on his motorcycle when he ran over a suitcase that had fallen off a car and onto the roadway. He underwent surgery to repair damage to his knee. The wound developed a Staphylococcus aureus infection. Doctors performed seventeen subsequent operations in an attempt to clear the infection and save the leg; however, these efforts were unsuccessful, and Depardieu's leg was amputated above the knee in June 2003. He was unable to overcome the infection, and on 13 October 2008, died at the hospital in Garches, aged 37.

Gérard Depardieu later blamed his son's death on his first imprisonment for drug offences, at age 17: he said that Guillaume had never recovered from it, and that he had been unfairly treated at the time by a "hateful" judge who wanted to put a Depardieu in jail. Gérard Depardieu commented: "They killed my son for two grams of heroin".

Filmography

Cinema Year Film Role Notes 1974 Pas si méchant que ça 1992 Tous les matins du monde Young Marin Marais Nominated – César Award for Most Promising Actor 1993 1995 Les apprentis Fred César Award for Most Promising Actor 1997 Marthe Alliance cherche doigt 1998 White Lies Antoine 1999 Pola X Pierre 2000 Elle et lui au 14e étage Les marchands de sable 2001 Amour, prozac et autres curiosités 2002 Once Upon an Angel GrégoireA Loving Father Paul Le pharmacien de garde 2004 Process 2006 Celibataires 2007 The Duchess of Langeais Armand de Montriveau La France 2008 De la guerre Versailles Damien Stella Les inséparables 2009 A Real Life The Childhood of Icarus (Final film role)

Television Year Film/series Role Notes 1996 Ricky TV movie 1992 Le Lyonnais TV series (1 episode) 1998 The Count of Monte Cristo Young Edmond DantèsMiniseries 2000 Les Misérables Young Jean ValjeanMiniseries2001 Caméra Café TV series (1 episode) Zaïde, un petit air de vengeance TV movie 2002 Napoleon Jean-Baptiste Muiron 2004 The Accursed Kings King Louis X MiniseriesMiladyAthos 2008 Château en Suède TV movie

Discography Post Mortem (2013)