Gilles Béhat

Gilles Béhat — Biography

Born Gilles Béat in Lille on 3 September 1949, the director, screenwriter and former actor picked up the h in his surname from a credits error on his first film role, L'Hercule sur la place. As a teenager he played guitar in a rock band, then studied acting at the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique, and began his career playing Charles IV in the television series Les Rois maudits and appearing in the film Elle court, elle court la banlieue; he also played Victor Point in La cloche tibétaine.

He later moved behind the camera, gaining attention with the 1984 gangster film Rue barbare; after several subsequent films, including Dancing Machine with Alain Delon, proved commercial failures, he turned to television in the 1990s, directing series for TF1, France 2 and Canal+. He returned to cinema in 2008 with the noir Diamant 13, starring Gérard Depardieu, Olivier Marchal and Asia Argento. In his personal life he married Brazilian actress Cláudia Ohana and later Nathalie Courval.