7/24/00  DEPARDIEU'S SURGERY: THE FULL STORY  As reported earlier, Depardieu is now home recovering and is expected to resume work mid-August.  The entire story is (at last) covered in a number of French mags this week.  Paris Match has an 8 page cover story, and France Dimanche is covering it as well.  I am in the process of getting these mags for our press pages, but in the meantime, here is the online version of the Paris Match article, which has quite a bit of good material:   Paris Match Online.  If you don't parles française, you can use Babblefish to translate -- see our links pages for a link to Babblefish.

7/19/00  DEPARDIEU RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL  And supposedly doing fine!  He's due back on set for "Le Placard" in August and the Astérix sequel in Sept.  Whew!  Link:  Yahoo Asia.   And thanks to Poubelle for finding this article!

7/17/00  NO NEWS ON HEART SURGERY  Which may, as they say, be good news.  I haven't been able to find anything new online.  However, he should be about ready to get out of the hospital.  Just wanted to let everyone know that there's nothing new to report.

7/12/00  UPDATE ON HEART SURGERY  I have a bit to add to this story.  It seems Depardieu went to the doctors to check up on his fatigue and chest pains at the urgings of Carole Bouquet -- thanks Carole!  The operation took place Monday, Jul 10th as a preventative for a heart attack.  The doctors have said that no lesser remedy for his condition was available.  Also, the film he was due to shoot on Monday was "The Cupboard", directed by Jacques Weber.  Depardieu had a small part and no doubt took the role, as he often does, for a friend.  "The Cupboard" stars Daniel Auteuil.  The French news article also mentioned that he was due to start "Hunchback of Notre Dame" and the "Asterix" sequel soon, one of them in September.

Apparently, with a routine surgery of this kind, he may be up in 3 days and out of the hospital in 8 or 9.  Knowing Depardieu, if his recovery is smooth he may well be back in the saddle by September.   

More links:
ABC News article         New York Times Article         Actualitiés Article (French -- thanks Stacy!)

7/11/00  DEPARDIEU HAS HEART SURGERY  This is not the worst possible news but it's pretty darn close.  Depardieu underwent a bypass at a Foch Hospital in Paris this week.  His agent said he had been feeling tired and had had chest pains for several weeks.  He went to have it checked out on Saturday (7/8) and the doctors admitted him to the hospital.  After the surgery the hospital reported that it had been a routine operation and that everything had gone well.  He is expected to make a full recovery.  Gérard Depardieu is 51 years old.

He reportedly just finished filming Vidoqc and was set to begin working again (one presumes on another film) on Monday.  He has a number of projects outstanding:  The Asterix and Obelix vs Cleopatria film, Napolean, and two more TV movies:  The Three Muskateers and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  I don't know if one of these or some other new project was on his slate next.

Thoughts:  First, pray, pray for a speedy recovery.  He is a robust man with an incredible amount of determination, energy and will.  May these carry him through.  Very selfishly, I'd like another 30 years of Depardieu movies, but also the world would be a sadder place without this great soul on it.  I will add updates as soon I can find them.   Ginny         Links:    The BBC news story