then made a comedy, Tender Scoundrel (1966). He had small roles in two predominantly English speaking films, Is Paris Burning? (1966) and Casino Royale (1967). After making The Thief of Paris (1967) for Louis Malle, Belmondo took an acting hiatus for over a year. "One day it seemed that life was passing me by", he said. "I didn't want to work. So I stopped. Then one day I felt like starting again. So I started." Belmondo spent three months of that time off in Hollywood but did not accept any offers. He did not want to learn English and appear in English-language films: Every Frenchman dreams of making a Western, of course but America has plenty of good actors. I'm not being falsely modest but why would they need me? I prefer a national film to an international film. Something is lost. Look at what happened to Italy when they went international. Belmondo returned to filmmaking with the crime movie, Ho! (1968), then had a massive hit with a comedy co-starring David Niven, The Brain (1969). He later appeared in Mississippi Mermaid (1969) for François Truffaut with Catherine Deneuve and the romantic drama Love Is a Funny Thing (1969). 1970s Belmondo starred alongside Alain Delon in Borsalino (1970), a successful gangster film. The latter produced the film and Belmondo ended up suing Delon over billing. The Married Couple of the Year Two (1971) was also popular; even more so was The Burglars (1971). Inspired by the success Alain Delon had producing his own films, Belmondo formed his own production company, Cerito Films (named after his grandmother, Rosina Cerrito), to develop movies for Belmondo. The first Cerito film was the black comedy Dr. Popaul (1972), with Mia Farrow, the biggest hit to date for director Claude Chabrol. La scoumoune (1972) was a new version of A Man Named Rocca (1961). The Inheritor (1973) was an action film; Le Magnifique (1974), a satiric action romance reunited him with Philippe de Broca. He produced as well as starred in Stavisky (1974). Then he made a series of purely commercial films: Incorrigible (1974), Fear Over the City (1975; one of Belmondo's biggest hits of the decade and the first time he played a policeman on screen), Hunter Will Get You (1976), and Body of My Enemy (1977). Animal (1977) cast him as a stuntman opposite Raquel Welch and he starred as a policeman in