Depardieu's actor son dies at 37

The son of French actor Gerard Depardieu has died aged 37, hospital officials have confirmed.

Guillaume Depardieu, who was also an actor, died at Raymond-Poincare hospital near Paris from complications related to pneumonia.

He flew to France on Sunday from Romania, where he contracted a pulmonary illness while filming.

Speaking to French radio station RTL, director Alan Corneau called him a "wonderful guy".

Corneau directed both actors in the 1991 movie Tous les Matins du Monde (All the Mornings of the World).

The film marked the start of the younger Depardieu's professional acting career.

Leg amputation

In 1996, he won the most promising young actor prize at the Cesar awards, France's equivalent of the Academy Awards.

He was presented with the gong for his role in the film Les Apprentis (The Apprentices).

As a teenager and young adult, Guillaume Depardieu faced problems with drugs, alcohol and violence that led to convictions for traffic violations, insults and narcotics.

He had a public falling-out with his father in 2003.

That same year he had his right leg amputated to end years of pain from a bacterial infection that followed a motorcycle accident in 1996.