Alain Delon, A French Actor And Heartthrob, Died At The Age Of 88
PARIS — Alain Delon, the globally recognized French actor who played both the bad guy and the police officer and made hearts beat all over the world, died at the age of 88, according to French media.
With his gorgeous appearance and gentle demeanor, the prolific actor was able to blend roughness with an appealing, vulnerable aspect, making him one of France’s most unforgettable leading men.
Delon was also a producer. He also acted in plays and, later, in television films.
On X Day, French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to “a French monument.”
“Alain Delon has played legendary roles and made the world dream,” he said in a poem. “Melancholic, popular, and secretive, he was more than a star.”
Delon’s children announced his death on Sunday in a statement to the French national news agency Agence France-Presse, which is usual practice in France. Tributes to Delon poured in quickly on social media, and all major French media outlets shifted to full-fledged coverage of his illustrious career.
Earlier this year, his son Anthony revealed that his father had been diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma, a type of cancer.
Delon’s frail health has been at the center of a family dispute over his treatment for the past year, resulting in heated media confrontations among his three children.
Delon was sought after by some of the world’s finest directors, including Luchino Visconti and Joseph Losey, during his peak years in the 1960s and 1970s.
In his later years, Delon became disillusioned with the film industry, claiming that money had killed the dream. “Money, commerce, and television have wrecked the dream machine,” he wrote in a 2003 issue of the newsweekly Le Nouvel Observateur. “My cinema has died. “And me, too.”
However, he continued to work frequently, appearing in several television films throughout his 70s.
Delon’s performances as morally damaged heroes or amorous leading men were outstanding. He first gained popularity in 1960 with the film “Plein Soleil,” directed by Réne Clément, in which he played a murderer attempting to assume the identities of his victims.
He worked on several Italian films, most notably with Visconti in 1961’s “Rocco and His Brothers,” in which Delon plays a self-sacrificing brother determined to help his sibling. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
The Palme d’Or, the highest honor of the Cannes picture Festival, was awarded to Visconti’s 1963 picture “Le Guepard” (The Leopard), starring Delon. His other works were Clément’s “Is Paris Burning,” which included a screenplay by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola, among others; “La Piscine” (The Sinners), directed by Jacques Deray; and, in a departure, Losey’s “The Assassination of Trotsky” in 1972.
Delon began making pictures in 1968, and by 1990, he had produced 26 of them as part of a frenetic and self-assured drive that he maintained throughout his life.
His confidence was obvious when he told Femme in 1996, ‘I like to be loved the way I love myself!’ This reflected his dynamic screen presence.
Delon captivated audiences for years, despite receiving criticism for comments that were considered out of date. In 2010, he appeared in “Un mari de trop” (“One Husband Too Many”), and he returned to the stage in 2011 with “An Ordinary Day,” co-starring his daughter Anouchka.
He briefly presided over the Miss France jury before stepping down in 2013 due to disagreements over various contentious utterances, including criticisms of women, LGBTQIA+ rights, and immigrants. Despite these criticisms, he got the Palme d’Honneur at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, sparking more debate.
On Sunday, the Cannes Film Festival expressed “sadness.Delon “embodied French cinema far beyond its borders,” according to the statement.
The Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which is dedicated to animal welfare, paid tribute to “an exceptional man, an unforgettable artist, and a great friend of animals” in a statement posted on social media. Delon was “a close friend” of French film legend Brigitte Bardot, “who is deeply saddened by his passing,” according to the statement. “We lose a precious friend and a man with a big heart.”
French film producer Alain Terzian described Delon as “the last of the giants.”
“It’s a turning point in French cinema history,” he said on France Inter radio. Terzian, who produced numerous films directed by Delon, recalls that “every time he arrived somewhere, there was a kind of almost mystical, quasi-religious respect.” “He was fascinating.”
Delon was born on November 8, 1935, in Sceaux, just south of Paris. When he was four years old, his parents separated and he was placed with a foster family. He later attended a Roman Catholic residential school.
Delon entered the navy at the age of seventeen and was stationed in Indochina. Back in France in 1956, he worked as a waiter and a carrier at the Paris meat market before becoming an actor.
Delon and his then-wife Nathalie Canovas had a son, Anthony, in 1964, who appeared alongside him in Jean-Pierre Melville’s “The Samurai” film in 1967. He had two other children, Anouchka and Alain-Fabien, with a second relationship,
Rosalie van Breemen, with whom he created a song and film clip in 1987. He was also commonly thought to be the father of Ari Boulogne, the son of German model and singer Nico; however, he never publicly claimed paternity.
“I am very good at three things: my job, foolishness, and children,” he stated in a 1995 interview with L’Express.
Delon pursued a variety of interests throughout his life, beginning with the establishment of a trotting horse stable and progressing to the development of fragrance for men and women, followed by watches, glasses, and other accessories. He also gathered paintings and sculptures.
Delon announced the end of his acting career in 1999 but later appeared in Bertrand Blier’s “Les Acteurs” (The Actors). He then appeared in other television police shows.
His beautiful looks supported him. Delon told L’Humanite Hebdo, a weekly magazine, in August 2002 that he would not be in the company otherwise.
“You’ll never see me old and ugly,” he declared as he approached 70, “because I’ll leave before, or I’ll die.”
However, during a gala event honoring him at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019, Delon expressed his thoughts on the significance of his life. “One thing I’m certain of is that if there’s anything I’m proud of, it’s “my career.”
