Joe McConnell
Alain Delon, the French actor and 1960s star idol who rose to fame playing thugs and gangsters but led a tumultuous life away from the screen, has died at the age of 88.
One of the biggest names in a towering generation of French film stars, Delon died “peacefully at his home in Douchy, surrounded by his three children and his loved ones,” his family told French news agency AFP on Sunday. He had suffered from poor health in recent years.
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Delon’s “legendary” roles and his “unforgettable face.”
“Melancholic, popular, reserved, he was more than a star: he was a French monument,” Macron said on X.
Delon rose to fame with roles that had a criminal or dark edge, playing assassins and hitmen. He was known for his chiseled good looks and bright blue eyes, and attracted fans from around the world during his heyday.
Some of his best-known films include Full sun (Purple noon) from 1960, freely inspired by the novel by Patricia Highsmith The Talented Mr. Ripley; Luchino Visconti’s 1963 movie The leopardin which he starred alongside Burt Lancaster; and The Samuraia 1967 film by Jean-Pierre Melville in which he played a contract killer.
His career was sometimes clouded by scandal, but he was very open about his connections with real mobsters and gangsters, some of whom he met early in his life while doing odd jobs in Paris.
In the last years of his life, Delon sparked controversy with comments such as his admission that he had slapped women and criticism of same-sex adoption.
He also claimed to be friends with far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen, which sparked a backlash when he was awarded an honorary prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019, one of the actor’s last public appearances.
Upon receiving the award, Delon defended his legacy. “People can say what they want, I’m used to it. But there’s nothing to say about my career. It’s irreproachable,” he told the newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche in 2019.
That year, Delon also paid tribute to his fans in a statement to AFP, thanking them for their support “as my journey nears its end.” He said he had known “so many passions, so many loves, so many successes and failures, controversies, scandals and dark affairs” in his life.
Born just outside Paris in Sceaux in 1935, Delon had a turbulent childhood, starting when he was placed in foster care at the age of four, before attending a series of boarding schools. At 17, he enlisted in the French Navy and served in what was then known as Indochina and governed by France.
Returning to Paris in the 1950s, he joined the underworld of the Pigalle red-light district and worked as a porter at the Les Halles food market.
Through a friend, he visited the Cannes Film Festival in 1957 and was noticed by a Hollywood agent who took him to auditions. His acting career took off with a series of film and stage roles. He won awards for his acting, but never made it big in the United States.
Early in his career, Delon met actress Romy Schneider, whom he became engaged to but never married. The couple continued to star in the drama about sexual jealousy The swimming pool (The swimming pool).
In 1964 Delon married Nathalie Barthélémy, a model and actress, with whom he had a son, one of four children born from three relationships.
One of his sons with German singer Nico, whom he never acknowledged, died last year.
In recent years, internal strife between his sons has spilled over into the company, as Delon’s health deteriorated aVsceker a stroke.
One of the darkest moments of his career dates back to the late 1960s, when the body of Stefan Markovic, Delon’s bodyguard and secretary, was found in a landfill near Paris.
Delon was investigated for Markovic’s death, although he denied any involvement. The man ultimately charged with the murder, a friend of Delon’s, was later acquitted.
Politicians and the film world paid tribute to Delon on Sunday. Véronique Jannot, a French actress who worked alongside him, said he had been “a god,” adding that people had forgotten Delon’s cinematic legacy.
“It’s extremely sad that he’s gone, but it’s also a relief. He didn’t like this era we live in,” Jannot told BFM TV.
Paul Belmondo, son of the late actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, who starred alongside Delon in the 1970 gangster film Borsalino, also told the TV station: “A chapter in the history of cinema is closing, a chapter in our lives.”
