Gerard Depardieu is a constant surprise: romantic and sensitive, yet physically overpowering with an indisputable wild streak; uneducated in the orthodox sense of the word, and yet an actor who has brought numerous periods of history to life on screen.  These contradictory qualities, together with his lust for life, constitute a large part of Depardieu's appeal. They explain why, despite his bulbous nose and colossal frame, he has the ability to make beautiful women go weak at the knees. And why the actor able to play great romantic leads can also take on the cartoon slapstick of Obelix, the larger-than-life Gaul he plays in his upcoming film Asterix And Obelix Against ]ulius Caesar. Why, in fact, he has become cinema's favourite Frenchman.

Depardieu's is an unlikely tale from the start. He was born in 1948, one of six children of poor parents in the town or Chateauroux in central France. His father was illiterate and drank heavily and his mother, according to the actor, seemed always to be pregnant.  With little reason to stay, he ran away from home aged just eight, but would return from time to time, and continued to go to school until he was 12.

There, he is said to have shone at literature and recitation, a gift that would totally desert him when he decided to fend for himself full-time between the ages of 12 and 15. Tongue-tied and stuttering from the violence and loneliness he experienced in the streets, it took a gifted therapist, using music and literature, to help him talk again.

Having gained some confidence, he then went to study acting at the Theatre Nationale Populaire in Paris. In the same year, he made his screen debut in Le Beatnik Et Le Minet, and met Elisabeth Guignot, the woman who would become his wife in 1969, and the mother of two of his three children, Julie and Guillaume. He was just 16.

His marriage to Elisabeth lasted 26 years, during which time Depardieu played in over lOO films, including such international hits as Cyrano de Bergerac, The Man In The Iron Mask, Jean de Florette and Green Card, for which he won the Golden Globe comedy award. He was also awarded both the National Order of Merit and - France's highest accolade - the legion of Honour.

Off-screen the burly actor's life has also been full. While married to Elisabeth, he succumbed to the charms of Senegalese model Karine Sylla. Seventeen years his junior, Karine bore him a little girl in 1992 whom they called Roxanne after the heroine of one of the actor's favourite films, Cyrano de Bergerac. The pair continued to see one another after Elisabeth learned of Roxanne's existence and their relationship was said to have caused the break-up of the marriage in 1996.

Reportedly, Karine and Roxanne also became a bone of contention between Depardieu and his current partner Carole Bouquet, the woman who co-starred with him in Trop Belle Pour Toi, and the Face of Chanel for the past 13 years.  Whatever problems it created, however, seem to have blown over now. The pair, who were friends for 20 years before becoming an item, are very much in love.

"I find him extremely handsome," Carole has said of the man she waited so long for. "He is a charming, charming man. Very sweet."

"She is very beautiful," Depardieu says of Carole. "It is hard to live with a beautiful woman but love is heaven-sent."

Here, the man who has become the epitome of French sensuality, talks to HELLO! about his philosophy on life from his cherished Loire Valley chateau, where he's been producing his own wines for the last decade.

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