AFTER all the examples of unforgettable and original screen stars Hollywood in particular has left us from its Golden Age of Film History, it is not really easy for emerging screen stars to add to this list. As hurtful as it may sound to some, the more classic Hollywood or European cinema is NOT visible, spoken or read about, the more lower standards in all aspects of contemporary cinema will remain hidden by this lack of comparison with the cinema of the past.
And when we do ask ourselves what remains the secret of genuine or attractively unique screen stars, the simple answer inevitably seems to be their underlying personality brought to their roles.
Of course, their achievement may seem easier when we notice a repetitious similarity in their screen roles, but that is beside the point, since their achievement in the first place is related to the originality of their screen personality. Such an originality is closely linked to the cultivated personality of the actor/actress, rather than an ability to adapt to various characterizations they may be tasked to realize.

Special quality
The French screen star, Jean-Paul Belmondo emerged at the beginning of the 1960s as one of cinema’s most captivating actors whose appeal is linked to the projection of his cultivated and congenial personality regardless of the role.
Born in the early 1930s, Belmondo, by age 26, after studying drama for several years and appearing in at least nine minor screen parts, landed the lead role in Jean–Luc Godard’s first film, ‘BREATHLESS’, which, as everyone knows, was a unique event for movies.
Belmondo’s role in ‘Breathless’ suggested a dual quality which he began to represent in many roles to follow. That quality had to do with the searching, stumbling, ant-heroic, but un-pandering and dignified definition of a new type of male personality cultivated by knowledge or awareness of an inconstant or changing world.
Belmondo’s man is not your typical movie hero or villain; he is not that clear-cut, as movies tend to make characters who are easily understood by an entertained audience. The difference of Belmondo’s characters on screen from typical movie characters is that the interests and style of Belmondo’s real personality, his intellectual and reflective moods, his curiosity, his humour, his excellent style of dressing, his youthful rebelliousness against prejudicial stereotypes, his romantic weakness for women, his adventurous and tolerant nomadic lifestyle, all this is an essential part of most movie roles he will play.
We begin to recognize this repeated quality in his films, which is based on the charisma of Belmondo dominating the role, and not the role dominating Belmondo.

Real example
The brilliance of Belmondo’s performance in his first lead role in ‘Breathless’, is that we cannot fail to recognize the natural style of Belmondo, the man — a non-acting quality that director Godard and others like him encouraged in the ‘stars’ of their films   — combining with the character he is playing, who is a petty criminal in love with Humphrey Bogart’s image in 1940s & 50s Hollywood Film Noir movies.
Director Godard’s originality began with Belmondo’s role in ‘Breathless’ becoming a criticism of those attitudes by film fans who glorify or imitate the heroic roles of actors/actresses, rather than the lesson of their REAL skill at their UN-REAL performances. For example, Belmondo’s wayward character in ‘Breathless’ is more concerned with his hero, Humphrey Bogart’s tough-guy movie roles, rather than Bogart the real man, who was far from being any of the tough characters he portrayed on film.
We can bet that Belmondo also liked Bogart’s real-life character and acting skills, and what Belmondo achieved in ‘Breathless’ is the delivery of both his admiration and emulation of Bogart, the human actor, as well as a criticism of imitating the actor’s tough, callous portrayals.
What Belmondo developed as his originality is the ability to make films, or to act roles where one’s real personality, one’s real beliefs are casually represented even more than a fabricated character; where one’s real human character, including its flaws, is revealed in an un-heroic yet attractive screen-star personality; where one of the foremost qualities of the modern artist, especially the writer, actor, or singer, is to admit self-criticism in one’s works, rather than dogmatically fabricate and perpetuate false or naïve morality as a standard.

That Man from Rio
In 1964, Belmondo made one of his best and most loved films, ‘THAT MAN FROM RIO’, under the direction of one of France’s most exciting and adventurous film directors, the wonderful Philippe de Broca. It is with this film that Belmondo found his chance to signify multiple values of lower and higher class, the sophisticated and coarse, the cultured and rustic, the past and the future, European and non-European, big cities, coastland and jungle, humor and seriousness, Europe and South America.
Throughout all these dualities, splendidly demonstrated by director de Broca, Belmondo, and the late Francoise Dorleac, one of France’s most delightful actresses, also expertly projected his own perfectly blended personality reflecting the physical and mental humour of Charlie Chaplin, the zest of Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster, and the male vulnerability of Mongomery Clift.
Added to this was Belmondo’s chic fashion on a lean body, his suavity from head to toe, and those sleek dirty white jeans with brightly striped long-sleeved shirts, a combination which became a hit among chic males. The star-making personality of this actor became an extension of the best human qualities from the golden age of film history.