Pierre André Clémenti (28 September 1942 – 27 December 1999) was a French actor, filmmaker, and writer. He was known for his work with several prominent European auteurs during the 1960s and '70s, including Luis Buñuel, Jacques Rivette, Luchino Visconti, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Dušan Makavejev. He was regarded as something of a countercultural figure in his time, and one retrospective described him as the "ideal embodiment of all the adventures of cinematic modernity."
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Early life
Born in Paris to an unknown father and Rose Clémenti, a Corsican concierge whose surname he took, Clémenti had a difficult childhood and took refuge in literature and the theatre. He studied drama at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier and ENSATT.
Career
After beginning his acting career in theatre, Clémenti secured his first minor screen roles in Yves Allégret's Jack of Spades ("Chien de pique", 1960), performing alongside Eddie Constantine. Possibly his best remembered role was as the gangster lover/client of the bourgeois prostitute (Catherine Deneuve) in Belle de Jour (1967) directed by Luis Buñuel, in whose other film The Milky Way (1969) he played the Devil. He worked with several other European directors, including in highly regarded films of the era, such as The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963), Pigsty (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1969) and The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970, and Bertolucci's Partner, 1968). Other directors he worked with include Liliana Cavani, Glauber Rocha, Miklós Jancsó, Jacques Rivette, and Philippe Garrel.
