Pierre Clémenti
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Pierre Clémenti (28 September 1942 – 28 December 1999) was a French actor. Born in Paris, Clémenti studied drama and began his acting career in the theatre. He secured his first minor screen roles in 1960 in Yves Allégret's Chien de pique performing alongside Eddie Constantine. Arguably, his most famous role was that of gangster lover of bourgeois prostitute Catherine Deneuve in Luis Buñuel's 1966 classic Belle de jour.
Clémenti was famously arrested for possession of drugs in Italy in 1977 and spent 14 months in prison on hunger strike until the cinema community succeeded in mobilising enough support to pressure for his release. He died of liver cancer in 1999.
