Death of Belmondo: the “band of the Conservatory” loses its last emblematic figure – LCI

Core of the “Conservatory gang”, Jean-Paul Belmondo was one of the last survivors of this incredible generation of actors who met at the conservatory in 1952. “We had an incredible generation with Jean-Pierre Marielle, Jean Rochefort, Claude Rich and Guy Bedos, we had hooked atoms right away and after that we never left each other”, explained “Bébel” at the microphone of TF1 several years ago.

This group of friends eager for renewal and modernity in the aftermath of the war detonated, both on stage and in town, with their outbursts against the prestigious Conservatory of Dramatic Art system which they considered dusty.

Laboriously admitted to the Conservatory, Belmondo was little appreciated by teachers because of his physique considered incompatible with the leading roles. Whoever becomes the new model of the young first in the cinema will even suffer from hurtful remarks like:“You would make a hall roar with laughter if you hugged a woman”.

An anecdote has remained in the annals: in the competition of 1956, he won a simple accessit for a scene of the play “Love and Piano” de Feydeau, which closed the door of the Comédie-Française to him, despite the ovation of his classmates. Carried in triumph by his band, he leaves the room, addressing a finger of honor to the jurors. “It made a little scandal at the Conservatory”, he will recall.

Together, they made the 400 blows, but above all they never separated, confided Jean-Paul Belmondo during the funeral of Charles Gérard, a friend of 60 years. “It was the friendship of a lifetime”, explained “The Magnificent”, then already very weakened by the disease.

And then alongside the friends, there are the mentors, like Jean Gabin. But even there on the set ofA monkey in winter in 1962, the band of comedians never misses an opportunity to have a good laugh. “There was Noël Roquevert who made us all cry with laughter, because all of a sudden he was pulling out his wallet and showing us naked women, while he was telling his wife that he was showing pictures of the dog”, said Jean-Paul Belmondo.