Christopher Lambert

Born in Great Neck (Long Island), Christophe Guy Denis Lambert (his full name) is the son of a French diplomat and a Belgian psychologist. When he was two years old, the family moved to Geneva (Switzerland), where he grew up, until he moved again at 16, this time to the French capital. He does not remember having a happy childhood. “To begin with, I was electrocuted by the Christmas tree, that is my first memory, not a very pleasant one. Most of all I was afraid of not being loved and I was terrified of the idea that my parents would die ”, he comments. Because of that need for affection, he felt special when he triumphed as the protagonist of a school function. In the end he enrolled in acting at the Paris Conservatoire.

He made his film debut as a fleeting guest at a ball in Goodbye, Colleagues , a forgotten 1979 comedy, where he appeared with Charles Aznavour . After taking part in several French feature films, also second-rate, he auditioned for an ambitious Warner production in Europe, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, King of the Apes (1984). The proof of him dazzles the director, the British Hugh Hudson, who bets on him despite the fact that at that time he did not even know Tarzan, for the leading role, the king of the monkeys created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, in a faithful and realistic version of his novels. The filmmaker wanted a stranger, and the actor seemed appropriate to him because of his myopia, since when he took off his glasses it seemed that he was always looking towards the horizon. The ‘major’ accepted her decision, because she wanted to bind the filmmaker at all costs after he won the Academy Award for best picture for Chariots of Fire . His new work garnered three Oscar nominations, in the supporting actor ( posthumously nominated Ralph Richardson ), adapted screenplay, and makeup categories, but won none.

The interpreter chained the filming with that of Subway. In Search of Freddy , the first international blockbuster of a compatriot, Luc Besson , destined to succeed at the helm of European productions along the lines of Hollywood cinema. He gave life to the character alluded to in the Spanish title, a guy who lives in the Paris metro, where he commits petty thefts. It is quite interesting Conspiracy to kill a priest , by the Polish Agnieszka Holland , where he played Father Alek, a priest from the Solidarity union, assassinated for preaching against the communist regime.

Climbing onto the bandwagon of fame, Christopher Lambert shot his best-known title, The Immortals (1986) by Russell Mulcahy , where he played Connor McLeod, belonging to a class of individuals who can only die by beheading. They must fight each other until the last survivor reaches a huge reward. Its freshness, the landscapes of Scotland, and the charisma of Sean Connery as Juan Sánchez Villalobos Ramírez, the protagonist’s mentor, made the film an unusual success.

But the triumph only lasted two years (1984-1986). For some, he was the victim of Tarzan’s curse, which causes all those who embody the King of the Apes to end up crazy ( Johnny Weissmüller ), or condemned to oblivion ( James Pierce , Lex Barker, Elmo Lincoln, Casper Van Dien , and see what lucky last, Alexander Skarsgård ). In the case of Christopher Lambert, he struck blind. For starters he reprized as MacLeod in Highlanders II: The Challenge , Highlanders III: The Sorcerer , Highlanders: Endgame , and the Highlanders TV series .(1992), which, although they had an echo among the public –because of the good memories left by the original film–, were quite disappointing. His biggest failure was The Sicilian , an adaptation of a Mario Puzo novel directed by Michael Cimino , where he played a bandit turned leader for the independence of Sicily. The film just didn’t work. Carl Schenkel ‘s mid-budget thriller Check the Assassin was also unpopular , especially with its disappointing ending. He publicly acknowledges that he has had problems with alcohol. “I managed to get over it, but I have had numerous relapses,” he revealed.

Since he was not allowed to shoot with glasses, he was condemned to film without seeing anything, which is possibly transmitted through the images. But he has had even worse eyesight when it came to choosing either infamous spin-offs, like Hellfortress , Druids , Beowulf the Legend , Seven ‘s infamous knockoff titled Resurrection , or The Inquisitor . He even shared the screen with another such dancer, Nicolas Cage , in Ghost Rider, Spirit of Vengeance , one of the biggest nonsense in recent decades.

He hasn’t had much luck in love either. Illustrious lovers such as Estefanía de Monaco herself are attributed to him. He was married since 1988 to the actress Diane Lane , with whom he had a daughter in 1993, Eleanor Jasmine, but they divorced in 1994. From 1999 to 2006 he was together with the unknown Jaimyse Haft. From 2007 to 2014, he was in a romantic relationship with actress Sophie Marceau . “I admit that I have lied to my partners, being an actor I am very good at lying,” he explains with a certain irony. “But I like sincerity.”

In 2012 he suffered a setback because his brother Gilles died of bone cancer. “He is the person with whom I have related the most,” he says. He defines himself as a believer, but of no specific religion, and takes refuge in his close relationship with his daughter. In recent years, Christopher Lambert has survived by intervening in various nonsense, although he also chained several chapters as a secondary of the hit series NCIS: Los Angeles . The Coen brothers cast him in the hilarious role of a Scandinavian filmmaker, in Hail Caesar! , from 2016. Unfortunately, he continues to display his already legendary bad luck, for example, playing the French ambassador kidnapped by the Tupac Amaru movement, in Bel Canto, the last performance, the biggest flop from director Paul Weitz and actress Julianne Moore . Be careful it’s jinx.