Guillaume Depardieu Dead At 37

The 37-year-old passed away on Monday (13Oct08) at the Garches hospital.

He had been filming new movie L'Enfance d'Icare in Romania when he suddenly fell ill. He was taken to seek medical help at the weekend (10Oct08) but died early on Monday.

A spokesperson for Depardieu Sr.'s agency Artmedia says, "He caught a virus which gave him a very severe pneumonia."

Guillaume Depardieu starred in a number of movies, including 1991's Tous les matins du monde, 1993's Cible emouvante, and Pola X in 1999.

He was a multiple-nominee of the Cesar Awards in France, and in 1996 he won the accolade for Most Promising Actor for his role in Les Apprentis.

But it was Guillaume's reputation as a rebel which attracted the most attention. In 2003, he was handed a nine-month suspended prison sentence and fined $9,000 (GBP4,865) for threatening a man with a gun.

And in June this year (08), he was jailed for two months for driving under the influence (DUI). In addition, he has been in trouble with police over various drug offences.

He also suffered personal turmoil when he was injured in a severe motorbike accident in 1995, which later resulted in his right leg being amputated in 2003.

He is survived by his six-year-old daughter Louise with his ex-wife Elise Ventre, whom he divorced in 2006.