Critics have accused signatories - including the British actor Charlotte Rampling, the former French first lady Carla Bruni and Depardieu's former partner Carole Bouquet - of placing him above the law and trying to drown out #MeToo voices.
The letter, titled "Don't erase Gérard Depardieu", published in Le Figaro on Monday, claimed that the star, 75, was the victim of a "torrent of hatred".
Last week the French president, Emmanuel Macron, incited anger by leaping to Depardieu's defence after a documentary, Depardieu: The Fall of an Ogre, showed footage of the actor on a trip to North Korea in 2018 making obscene comments to and about women, sexually harassing a female translator and making sexual comments about a child at an equestrian centre.
The letter said: "Gérard Depardieu is probably the greatest of all actors.
When you attack Gérard Depardieu like this, it is art you are attacking.
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