Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu

Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu was a French actor best known as the "real" Martin Guerre in "The Return of Martin Guerre" (1982), the Academy Award-nominated cinematic adaptation of Janet Lewis' novel. Across a 40 year career, he acted in over 100 films, often playing the role of the villain. The father of actress Ingrid Donnadieu, he arrived on screens with appearances in Roman Polanski's legendary psychological thriller "The Tenant" (1976) and Claude Lelouch's "Si c'était à refaire" (1976), though his breakout role was in "Le professional" (1981), Georges Lautner's crime saga starring Jean-Paul Belomondo. After impressing alongside Gérard Depardieu and Nathalie Baye in "The Return of Martin Guerre," Donnadieu consolidated his position as an in-demand actor with appearances in Serge Leroy's crime drama "L'indic" (1983), Pascal Kané's political drama "Liberty belle" (1983) and Alain Resnais' "La vie est un roman" (1983). He had another memorable role in Bertrand Tavernier's brutal Middle Ages drama "La passion Béatrice" (1987), playing Julie Delpy's abusive father. In the early 1990s, Donnadieu appeared in Jacques Dorfmann's Inuit soap opera "Shadow of the Wolf" (1992), and later reunited with Dorfmann for his Ancient Gaul epic, "Vercingétorix" (2001). Following a notable role in Jean-Louis Guillermou's biopic "Antonio Vivaldi, un prince à Venise" (2006), Donnadeiu's final cinema role came in Christophe Barratier's nostalgic musical "Paris 36" (2008). He died in December 2010, aged 61.