Actor Gérard Depardieu – ‘the best and worst of France’- with a cast-iron liver and one-time buddy of Putin has a new well-received film out. The miracle is he’s still alive, having reputedly once downed 14 bottles of wine in one binge and still smoking after a quadruple heart bypass some years back, plus multiple motorcycle crashes. He exiled himself from France over high taxation rates, buddied up with Putin, who he reckoned was a hoodlum like himself, though they have recently fallen out after his direct criticism over Ukraine. A recent allegation of sexual assault against him is still under investigation and by his own admissions there were several instances of rape early in his life.
The star of Cyrano de Bergerac, Jean de Florette (and the immensely popular Asterix and Obelix film franchise) he is a polarising figure but still dear to the French heart. Now 73 he ‘has achieved an almost mythic quality. At his best, he’s a thrilling, disruptive and almost dangerous performer’ – “both rude and so refined, rough and full of grace, uneducated and very learned, gargantuan and ascetic.” And has been forgiven for his failings because of his disarming candour about his lifestyle and temperament.
He was born 27 December 1948 8am Chateauroux, France into profound poverty, with illiterate alcoholic parents. He left home to move in with a pair of streetwalkers when he was 13, flirted with petty crime, was a male prostitute and a grave robber before stumbling into acting in his mid teens and discovering classic literature.
What saved him would be a lucky Jupiter Sun Mercury in ambitious Capricorn in his 1st house giving him unshakeable self-confidence and an ebullient personality. His Sun, Jupiter, Mercury also trine a hard-working Saturn in the well-informed 9th so he would be keen to make up the educational deficits of his early life. His determined Mars in Capricorn in his 2nd house of finances as well would give him a driving urge to get out of the pit of his childhood and with Uranus trine his Midheaven he would be blessed with an innovative spirit. His seductive Scorpio Moon would give him a brooding sexuality when younger. Though his emotional life, not surprisingly, has been as chaotic as the rest of his life with Uranus on his Descendant and a can-be-compulsive Venus square Saturn.
His Pluto in the 8th is interesting since it does occur with movie stars who can project a powerful aura and image, though it isn’t an easy placing bringing a life filled with out-of-control events.
He has several well-aspected Harmonic charts – his get—a-life-together 5H; his pleasure-seeing 9H; wheel of fortune and self-defeating 10H; victim 12H and super-star22H.
His story is not dissimilar to Edith Piaf, the French singer – ‘Non, Je ne regrette rien’ – who was born 19 December 1915 5am Paris, literally in the streets of Paris, the illegitimate child of a chanteuse and a street acrobat. Abandoned by her mother she spent her early years in a brothel in Normandy run by her father’s family and then in her early teens became a street singer in Paris.
She became one of the most famous and beloved entertainers in Paris but her life was plagued by drugs, alcohol and overwork. She had several car accidents, attempted suicides, four drug cures, two episodes of delirium tremens, ulcers, jaundice, seven operations, three hepatic comas, spells of madness, two bouts with bronchial pneumonia and one with pulmonary oedema. She died before she was 50.
Like Depardieu, she had an 8th house Pluto, which gives great resourcefulness though also bring situations requiring courage and endurance. Her 2nd house Sagittarius Sun would give her a liking for money though not always an ability to handle it well. She had an unloved Venus Saturn hard aspect like him, a testament to her unloved childhood.
There’s something incredibly French about both of them.
“My only model for being a father was my father, an illiterate on the margin of society.” Gerard Depardieu
“I’m living in the present. I have no ambition. It’s true. But I want to live.” Gerard Depardieu“Singing is a way of escaping. It’s another world. I’m no longer on earth.” Edith Piaf
“I can die now. I’ve lived twice.” Edith Piaf
“When you reach the top, you should remember to send the elevator back down for the others.” Edith Piaf
“If God has allowed me to earn so much money, it is because He knows I give it all away.” Edith Piaf
ADD ON: Other 8th house Plutos include:
Marlon Brando – a alcoholic mother, hostility towards his critical father and a global reputation.
Oprah Winfrey – a teenage unmarried mother, poor, messy and abusive childhood.
Elvis Presley – poor, father imprisoned at one point for check fraud. For chart see below June 23 2022.
Adolf Hitler – hostile relationship with his father.
Winston Churchill – emotionally damaged by a distant relationship with his socialite mother.
All rose to great prominence despite or maybe because of the grit-in-the-oyster from less than perfect beginnings.
I am fascinated by Oprah Winfrey and why an interview with her should have had an almost universal impact. She seemingly seeks the truth but has little regard for the consequences – both for herself and her interviewees.
There are so many good quotes on the internet eg:
“When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.”
~Maya Angelou
“Remember this because it will happen many times in your life. When people show you who they are the first time believe them. Not the 29th. time. When a man doesn’t call you back the first time, when you are mistreated the first time, when someone shows you lack of integrity or dishonesty the first time, know that this will be followed many many other times, that will some point in life come back to haunt or hurt you. Live your life in truth. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not. You will survive anything if you live your life from the point of view of truth.”
~Oprah Winfrey
Marjorie, do you have any more insights on Oprah’s character which you are able or willing to share?
“All rose to great prominence despite or maybe because of the grit-in-the-oyster from less than perfect beginnings.”
This is so fascinating and thought provoking. I think a certain kind of charisma and drive can result from a difficult childhood, while an over-protective kind of childhood creates it’s own kind of damage in adult life. The nuclear family isn’t ideal, I suspect – the idea that “it takes a village to raise a child” is probably healthier if we’re looking for the best start. We remain group animals inside ourselves.
I thought of extraordinary, charismatic Josephine Baker, 3 June 1906 – entertainer in Paris, spy in the 2nd WW, and a life story like a novel. Her childhood barely existed, working from the age of 8, and married twice by the age of 14.
She had a heavy-duty stellium in Gemini, with Mercury, Sun, Jupiter, Pluto and Mars. The Pluto-Mars conjunction, and the Sun-Jupiter conjunction (square Saturn) are certainly powerful, and could potentially swamp somebody. It’s all in the 10th, if her birth time of 11.00am is right.
Alas, this other beautiful beast endured Pluto in the 8th as well.
https://dev.star4cast.com/marlon-brando-genius-and-madness/
Perhaps this is an impossible question – but WHAT makes your writing so endlessly good? ( Astro aspect wise, as passion and application are a given.) Always marveling at the depth of the portrait meshed with the fresh reportage. Always a treat, then doubled. These artists especially would be pleased.
Thank you, too for the star quotes.
~ Vive Star4Cast ~ Allez, Marjorie! ~
I too marvel at your writing prowess and insights Marjorie. I read your posts every day and love how you compress so much wisdom and analysis in each one.
Last Holiday with Queen Latifah is a recent Gerard Depardieu film, he plays a chef and is charming in his scenes with Latifah.
Yes – that compression is a mindblow! And the speed of delivery !!
Perhaps a better way of asking abt Writer Aspects for Marjorie is how/if her gift for writing was impacted by understanding her own aspects. I imagine when someone with astrological insight looks at their own chart it ISN’T for help with the things that are going well (such as a marked talent) – but I honestly wonder what stood out.
Can’t blame a fan for asking, right?
Hmm, I tend not to think much about my chart from the point of view of what I do. And I don’t remember ever searching for a direction from my chart. Life/career kind of just happened to me – part intuition, part fate/chance.
I do have three Virgo planets (12th house Sun, Jupiter, Mercury) and two in Gemini (9th Moon Uranus). Plus three more Air planets. So communication – words – were always going to be a constant.
Reflecting on it, the 9th house Moon is one pointer – I soaked up books as a child as comforters, read everything and anything, my three years older sister’s prescribed novels – Robert Louis Stevenson, John Buchan etc plus my own collection which ranged from Zane Grey to Dostoyevsky and George Elliot’s Middlemarch. Light, heavy, in between. It’s a staple of creative writing tutoring that if you want to write you need to read. I always reckoned that Charles Lambs’ essays taught me to punctuate – at the time. I’ve forgotten it all since.
I wanted to write novels from an early age and my father said smartly ‘you’ll get a proper paying job’ so I became a journalist. And truthfully writing snippets or a conveyor belt of bits and pieces suits my grasshopper mind better than books which require a different kind of concentration. I have written books but it’s more of a stretch for me.
Uranus conjunct Moon square Sun Mercury Jupiter tripped me into astrology – so that plus my media background and writing ended up with this Astro-news website. My 12th house attracted me to deeper psychological understanding. And a very central Pluto in my chart pulls me into the depths. What someone once described as a dolphin-like ability to dive down to get at the core of situations.
That’s the best I can do – thank you for your kind compliments.
Thanks for sharing the information about your birth chart and your background, Marjorie. I admit I’ve been curious but didn’t want to pry. I also find the breadth and depth of your work inspiring. Keep up the great work!
A film star that I find totally mesmeric despite his dubious reputation and admitted distasteful past. There is just something about him. Two of his best films (imho) are “36” where he plays a corrupt Police chief and “Tous les matins du monde” where he plays musician and composer Marin Marais. The opening of this film the is camera focussed on him in close up for about 5 minutes – and he doesn’t move a muscle. Two very different roles – and in line with what Marjorie said about his Pluto in the 8th – so powerful on screen.
Appreciate the film tips. Hope to find.
N.B. – The partial solar eclipse of Oct. 25, 2022, conjoined with Venus will happen right on Depardieu’s South Node.