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 God Created Woman, he fled into the army. Ten years later he had his first big success with A Man and a Woman. 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. Was chosen to play opposite Vittorio Gassman in Il sorpasso (1962) because he looked like Jacques Perrin, who started the picture but left to do Cronaca familiare (1962) under Valerio Zurlini 's direction. Graduated from L'IDHEC ("La Fémis", at present) His daughter Pauline died as a baby while he and his family were on location in Rome in 1969. His acting career was interrupted for several years by military service in Algiers. Raised in and around automobile racing, he was the natural choice of director Claude Lelouch for the role of a race car driver in Un homme et une femme (1966).