Born in Paris to an unknown father and Rose Clémenti, a Corsican concierge whose surname he took, Clémenti had a difficult childhood and took refuge in literature and the theatre. He studied drama and began his acting career in the theatre. He secured his first minor screen roles in
Yves Allégret's
Jack of Spades ("Chien de pique", 1960), performing alongside
Eddie Constantine. Possibly his best remembered role was as the gangster lover/client of the bourgeois prostitute (
Catherine Deneuve) in
Belle de Jour (1967) directed by
Luis Buñuel, in whose other film
The Milky Way (1969) he played the Devil. He worked with several other European directors, including in highly regarded films of the era, such as
The Leopard (
Luchino Visconti, 1963),
Pigsty (
Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1969) and
The Conformist (
Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970, and Bertolucci's
Partner, 1968). Other directors he worked with include
Liliana Cavani,
Glauber Rocha,
Miklós Jancsó,
Jacques Rivette, and
Philippe Garrel. In 1972, Clémenti's career was derailed after he was sentenced to prison for allegedly possessing or using drugs. Due to insufficient evidence, he was released after 17 months; later he wrote a book about his time in prison. After his release he played the ever-optimistic sailor of the Potemkin in
Dusan Makavejev's
Sweet Movie (1974) and the role of Pablo, the seductive saxophone player, in
Fred Haines's
Steppenwolf (also 1974) adapted from
the novel by
Hermann Hesse. Throughout his career he continued to be active in the theatre. Clémenti was also involved with the French
underground film movement, directing several of his own films which often featured fellow underground filmmakers and actors.
Visa de censure no X was an experimental work composed of two films.
New Old was a feature-length work starring
Viva released in 1978. He went on to direct ''La Révolution ce n'est qu'un début, continuons le combat
, In the Shadow of the Blue Rascal
and Sun''. He married actress Margareth Clémenti (née Le-Van, 1948), mother of his son Balthazar, born in July 1965. Later he was married to Nadine, mother of his second child, Valentin Clémenti-Arnoult. He died of
liver cancer in 1999. ==Selected filmography==