Jean-Paul Belmondo was loved by all and many have paid tribute to him since the announcement of his death on Monday, September 6. The great stuntman Michel Bérreur wanted to talk to us about “his Bébel”.
With Jean-Paul Belmondo, Michel Breur made the 400 blows. In cinema, they collaborated in 13 films and in life they had been friends for over 50 years. In the air or at sea, Michel Breur helped and learned the fundamentals of the profession of stuntman from the legend of French cinema. “I think he was more of a daredevil than a stuntman. He never saw the danger and he took insane risks.”, explains the stuntman.
A precise memory comes to mind, that of a Belmondo swearing to him that he could hold out for several minutes with the strength of his arms on the ladder of a helicopter in The Guignolo. Despite his best efforts, the actor had had to bring himself to be tied up via a harness, but he had a nagging resentment that he had failed to hold on. Until the end, the two friends shared good times. In his last moments of life, Belmondo had slipped to his lifelong friend: “Even diminished, I am better alive than in the cemetery.”