Delon rose to international fame in the 1960s with roles in classic films such as Purple Noon (1960), The Leopard (1963) and Le Samouraï (1969).
ADVERTISEMENTAlain Delon, the legendary icon of French and European cinema, died at 88.
With his handsome looks and tender manner, the prolific actor was able to combine toughness with an appealing, vulnerable quality that made him one of France’s memorable leading men.
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute on X to “a French monument."
“Alain Delon has played legendary roles and made the world dream,” he wrote. “Melancholic, popular, secretive, he was more than a star.”
His three children announced in a joint statement on Sunday: "Alain Fabien, Anouchka, Anthony, as well as (his dog) Loubo, are immensely saddened to announce the departure of their father."
"He passed away peacefully at his home in Douchy, surrounded by his three children and his family (...) His family kindly asks you to respect his privacy, at this time of extremely painful mourning."
Born on 8 November 1935 in Sceaux near Paris, Delon rose to international fame in the 1960s with roles in classic films such as Purple Noon (1960), The Leopard (1963) and Le Samouraï (1969).
At the prime of his career, in the 1960s and 1970s, Delon was sought out by some of the world’s top directors, from Luchino Visconti to Joseph Losey.
He made several Italian movies, working, most notably with Visconti in the 1961 film Rocco and His Brothers, in which Delon portrays a self-sacrificing brother intent on helping his sibling. The movie won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
His other films included Clément’s Is Paris Burning, with a screenplay by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola, among others, The Sinners, directed by Jacques Deray, and, in a departure, Losey’s The Assassination of Trotsky in 1972.
In his later years, Delon grew disillusioned with the movie industry, saying that money had killed the dream. “Money, commerce and television have wrecked the dream machine,” he wrote in a 2003 edition of the newsweekly, Le Nouvel Observateur. “My cinema is dead. And me, too.”
But he continued to work frequently, appearing in several TV movies in his 70s.
He briefly presided over the Miss France jury but stepped down in 2013 after a disagreement over controversial statements, including critiques on women, LGBTQ+ rights and migrants.
Despite these controversies, he received a Palme d’Honneur at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, a decision that sparked further debate.
It was then that Delon encapsulated his feelings about his life’s meaning during a gala event honouring him at Cannes. “One thing I’m sure about is that if there’s something I’m proud of, really, the only thing, it’s my career.”
