FLORENCE, Italy (AFP) — French film star Gerard Depardieu was fined 800 euros (1,275 dollars) by an Italian court Wednesday after being found guilty of head-butting a photographer, lawyers said.
The Oscar-nominated star of 1990 French literary swashbuckler "Cyrano de Bergerac" was not present at the Florence hearing, but was ordered to pay the fine for "injuries and threats against Dario Orlandi" in 2005.
Depardieu, who combined rapier wit and swordsmanship in Cyrano, was found to have assaulted the accredited journalist after being snapped shopping in the southern Italian city with a young woman.
Orlandi told the court that Depardieu signalled to him to come closer and then, without warning, smacked his forehead on Orlandi's nose -- leaving him unable to work for four days.
Another Frenchman, football star Zinedine Zidane, was the author of arguably the world's best-known head-butt, when he prodded his brow into Italy defender Marco Materazzi's chest during the 2006 World Cup final.
France lost the match.
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