He was born in Nice, one of seven children - four girls, then three boys, of which he was the oldest - and was the brother of politician François Léotard.

His childhood was normal except for an illness (rheumatic fever) which struck him and forced him to spend days in bed during which time he read a great many books.

He played Philippe, the tormented son of a woman with terminal illness in the 1974 drama film La Gueule ouverte by the controversial director Maurice Pialat.

One of his few English-language roles was a cameo in the 1973 thriller The Day of the Jackal and he co-starred as "Jacques" in the 1975 John Frankenheimer movie French Connection II which starred Gene Hackman and Fernando Rey, (sequel to The French Connection).

Léotard died of respiratory failure in Paris on 25 August 2001, three days before his 61st birthday.