Date of Birth

11 December 1930, Piolenc, Vaucluse, France

Born 1930 in Piolenc in south France as son of a wealthy industrialist. Studied law in Aix-en-Provence. Started theatrical acting in 1950, but was regarded untalented at first, until Roger Vadim discovered him for the movies. When the press stalked him 1956 because of rumors of an affair with Brigitte Bardot his partner in And Woman... Was Created (1956), he fled into the army. Ten years later he had his first big success with A Man and a Woman (1966). Since then he has starred in more than 100 movies, with a special talent for the dark characters like murderers or jealous husbands. Today he prefers theater to movies.

Father of Marie Trintignant.

Said he didn't accept the leading role in Last Tango in Paris (1972), because he didn't like the numerous nude scenes.

Was chosen to play opposite Vittorio Gassman in The Easy Life (1962) because he looked like Jacques Perrin, who started the picture but left to do Cronaca familiare (1962) under Valerio Zurlini 's direction.

Father of Vincent Trintignant

Graduated from L'IDHEC ("La Fémis", at present)

Nephew of sport car driver Maurice Trintignant (1917-2005).

His daughter Pauline died as a baby while he and his family were on location in Rome in 1969.

His actress/daughter Marie Trintignant, who was married at the time to director/actor Samuel Benchetrit, was fatally beaten in a Lithuanian hotel in 2003 by her jealous boyfriend, Bertrand Cantat, the lead rock singer and guitarist of the group Noir Désir. Apparently he became outraged when she received a telephone call from her husband. She suffered a cerebral edema as a result of her skull fractures and died four days after the incident. In 2004, Cantat was sentenced to eight years in prison for manslaughter, which was initially appealed by Marie's family, who wished for a heavier sentence. They later canceled their appeal and the judgment was final.

His acting career was interrupted for several years by military service in Algiers.

Lent his voice to the widely acclaimed The City of Lost Children (1995).

Raised in and around automobile racing, he was the natural choice of director Claude Lelouch for the role of a race car driver in A Man and a Woman (1966).

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