Born in Bucharest, Beldie grew up in the "mahala" of Gorgani, just south of Cișmigiu Gardens. He was a second-generation Bucharester, with his paternal family stemming from the western province of Oltenia. On that side, he descended from an old line of "pandur" rebels, called "Beldie", "Băldan", or "Pietraru". His great-grandfather Nicolae, Beldie recalled, participated in the 1821 uprising, only to betray the revolutionary cause, and then settled with other renegade "pandurs" on the Vâlsan River floodplain. His grandfather, Ghiță Beldie, resided in Stroeștii Argeșului, but traded in "țuică" all over the Argeș River valley.