Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu

Donnadieu's earliest notable film roles came in 1976 with The Tenant by Roman Polanski, and Second Chance (French: Si c'était à refaire, lit. 'If I Had to Do It All Over Again') by Claude Lelouch. The film which earned him wider recognition was Georges Lautner's 1981 action thriller, The Professional in which he had a major role, appearing with Jean-Paul Belmondo. Other notable film roles were the title part in The Return of Martin Guerre by Daniel Vigne, and in George Sluizer's The Vanishing, for which Donnadieu won best acting awards at the 1989 Madrid Film Festival and the 1990 Porto Film Festival. He was nominated for a best supporting actor César Award for his 1984 role as the dangerous criminal gang leader in Rue Barbare ('Barbarian Street'). His final film appearance was in 2008 in Christophe Barratier's Paris 36 (released in France as Faubourg 36).

Donnadieu appeared in many television and theatre productions. He played historical figures such as Hubert-Joseph Henry in the L'Affaire Dreyfus and Roger Salengro, in L'Affaire Salengro, a television film directed by Yves Boisset, with whom he regularly worked. While his appearance and physique seemed to influence directors to cast him as malevolent characters, he also had more sympathetic roles, such as the lead in the drama Faut pas rire du bonheur, in which his character has a romantic involvement with a woman, played by Laura Morante. His work dubbing French dialogue has included voicing characters portrayed by actors such as Kurt Russell, Dennis Hopper and Ron Perlman. In the theatre, he was a frequent collaborator with Georges Wilson who directed him in several productions.

Donnadieu died from cancer on 27 December 2010 at age 61.

Source: Article "Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.