Georges Frêche (July 9, 1938 – October 24, 2010) was a French politician. He served as President of the Languedoc-Roussillon Region from 2004 until his death: prior to that, he had been mayor of Montpellier for 27 years, and was also a former member (député) of the National Assembly. Frêche had been a member of the French socialist party until he was expelled on January 27, 2007.

A long-time political figure within French political circles, Frêche was an extremely controversial character, considered by some a great builder and visionary, while criticised by others and judged in court for his controversial remarks, which were sometimes interpreted as racist.

Frêche was born in Puylaurens, Tarn, in 1938. His father was a military officer, while his mother was a primary school headmistress. Frêche studied law in Paris, and was appointed professor of law at the University of Montpellier 1 in 1969, specializing in Roman law, before entering politics.

He served as the mayor of Montpellier from 1977 to 2004. Building on the trend started by his predecessor François Delmas, who landed the Southern Europe IBM factory and headquarters as well as the scientific university, Frêche expanded Montpellier in all directions, propelling it from the 25th-largest city in France to the eighth, in less than 30 years. Under Frêche, Montpellier, whose slogan, in the 1980s, reflecting Frêche's ambition, was "the overachiever", specialised in clean, tertiary industries such as banking, electronics and water processing. In 2004, Frêche was elected president of the Languedoc-Roussillon Region, and had to resign as mayor of Montpellier after 27 years in office, although he remained president of Montpellier Agglomération, the local agglomeration community.

Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu (French pronunciation: [ʒeʁaʁ dəpaʁdjø] ( listen); born 27 December 1948) is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor. He also won the Golden Globe award for Best Actor in Green Card and was nominated for an Academy Award for the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac.

Gérard Depardieu was born in Châteauroux, Indre, France. He is one of five children of Anne Jeanne Josèphe "la Liette" (née Marillier) and René Maxime Lionel "le Dédé" Depardieu, a metal worker and volunteer fireman. His mother did not want more children and told Depardieu that she had tried to abort him with knitting needles. He has stated that as a child he would inspect his hands for scars from the needles.

Depardieu spent more time on the street than in the classroom and left school at 15.^{[citation needed]}

At the age of 16, Depardieu left Châteauroux for Paris. There he began acting in the new comedy theatre Café de la Gare, along with Patrick Dewaere, Romain Bouteille, Sotha, Coluche, and Miou-Miou. His breakout film role came in 1974 playing Jean-Claude in Bertrand Blier's comedy Going Places. He studied dancing under Jean-Laurent Cochet, and went on to become one of France's most renowned actors. In 1986, his international fame grew as a result of his performance as a doomed, hunchbacked farmer in the film Jean de Florette. Five years later he won a César for his starring role in Cyrano de Bergerac.