An online kitty was created on June 11 to help Jean-Pierre Léaud, emblematic actor of the New Wave and favorite actor of François Truffaut, who is in a precarious financial, moral and physical situation, according to his relatives. On Wednesday June 14, it had reached 18,000 euros and 400 participants.
This spontaneous initiative was launched by the association Les Amis de François Truffaut, alerted by Serge Toubiana, former director of the Cinémathèque and friend of the 79-year-old actor. He is in "a physically and morally dilapidated state," Serge Toubiana told AFP. "He said to me, come see me, come to my rescue," he said, adding that he found him very affected, in the Paris apartment of his wife, herself "very tired". “I asked him what would make them happy. He told me that they would have to go out in the sun, swim, ”he continued.
Inseparable from the cinema of François Truffaut, who created for him the character of Antoine Doinel, from 400 blows to Love on the Run, Jean-Pierre Léaud was very touched by the successive disappearance of the great figures of the time. "After [Jean-Luc] Godard's death, he was very affected, he couldn't even speak," said Serge Toubiana.
“We are going to give him this money and see what his most urgent needs are,” said Armand Hennon, who heads the association Les Amis de François Truffaut, explaining that he does not know exactly the financial situation of Jean-Pierre Léaud, who does not is no longer able to work, and whose career has been cut short. In addition to the stay in the sun, it will be a question, for example, of having a home helper who can "take care of him", added Serge Toubiana, according to whom neither the actor nor his wife were immediately in the state to speak out on these initiatives.