August 18, 2024
PARIS — Alain Delon, the globally recognized French actor who embodied both the villain and the law enforcer, captivating audiences worldwide, passed away at the age of 88, French media reported. With his striking features and tender demeanor, the prolific actor was able to blend toughness with a captivating, vulnerable quality, establishing him as one of France's most memorable leading men. Delon was also a producer, graced the stage in theatrical productions, and, in his later years, appeared in television movies. French president Emmanuel Macron paid tribute on X, calling him “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.” Delon’s children announced his passing on Sunday in a statement to French national news agency Agence France-Presse, a customary practice in France. Tributes to Delon immediately started pouring in on social platforms, and all leading French media switched to comprehensive coverage of his illustrious career. Earlier this year, his son Anthony revealed that his father had been diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma, a form of cancer. Over the past year, Delon’s fragile health condition had been at the center of a family dispute concerning his care, leading to bitter exchanges through the media among his three children. At the zenith of his career, in the 1960s and 1970s, Delon was sought after by some of the world’s leading directors, from Luchino Visconti to Joseph Losey. In his later years, Delon became disillusioned with the film industry, lamenting that money had extinguished the dream. “Money, commerce and television have wrecked the dream machine,” he wrote in a 2003 edition of newsweekly Le Nouvel Observateur. “My cinema is dead. And me, too.” However, he continued to work regularly, appearing in several TV movies in his 70s. Delon’s presence was unforgettable, whether playing morally corrupt heroes or romantic leads. He first gained critical acclaim in 1960 with “Plein Soleil,” directed by Réne Clément, in which he portrayed a murderer attempting to assume the identity of his victims. He starred in numerous Italian movies, most notably with Visconti in the 1961 film “Rocco and His Brothers,” where Delon depicts a self-sacrificing brother dedicated to assisting his sibling. The movie garnered the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. The 1963 Visconti film “Le Guepard” (The Leopard) starring Delon secured the Palme d’Or, the highest honor at the Cannes Film Festival. His other films included Clément’s “Is Paris Burning,” with 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. In 1968, Delon began producing movies — 26 of them by 1990 — part of a frenzied and self-assured momentum that he maintained throughout his life. Delon’s self-confidence was palpable in his statement to Femme in 1996, ‘I like to be loved the way I love myself!’ This reflected his charismatic screen persona. Delon continued to captivate audiences for years — on the way courting criticism for comments deemed outdated. In 2010, he appeared in “Un mari de trop” (“One Husband Too Many”) and returned to the stage in 2011 with “An Ordinary Day,” alongside his daughter Anouchka. He briefly served as president of the Miss France jury but resigned in 2013 following a disagreement over some controversial remarks, which included critiques on women, LGBTQIA+ rights, and migrants. Despite these controversies, he received a Palme d’Honneur at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, a decision that sparked further debate. The Brigitte Bardot Foundation, dedicated to animal protection, paid tribute to “an exceptional man, an unforgettable artist and a great friend of animals,” in a statement released on social media. Delon was “a close friend” of French film legend Brigitte Bardot “who is deeply saddened by his passing,” the statement said. “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 page being turned in the history of French cinema,” he told France Inter radio. Terzian, who produced several films directed by Delon, recalled that “every time he arrived somewhere … there was a kind of almost mystical, quasi-religious respect. He was fascinating.” Born on Nov. 8, 1935, in Sceaux, just south of Paris, Delon was placed with a foster family after his parents’ separation when he was 4. He then attended a Roman Catholic boarding school. At 17, Delon joined the navy and was sent to Indochina. Back in France in 1956, he held various odd jobs from waiter to a carrier in the Paris meat market before turning to acting. Delon had son Anthony in 1964 with his then-wife Nathalie Canovas, who played alongside him in Jean-Pierre Melville’s “The Samurai” in 1967. He had two more children, Anouchka and Alain-Fabien, with a later companion, Rosalie van Breemen, with whom he produced a song and video clip in 1987. He was also widely believed to have been the father of Ari Boulogne, the son of German model and singer Nico, although he never publicly acknowledged paternity. “I am very good at three things: my job, foolishness and children,” he said in a 1995 L’Express interview. Delon juggled diverse activities throughout his life, from setting up a stable of trotting horses to developing cologne for men and women, followed by watches, glasses and other accessories. He also collected paintings and sculptures. Delon announced an end to his acting career in 1999, only to continue, appearing in Bertrand Blier’s “Les Acteurs” (The Actors) the same year. Later he appeared in several television police shows. His good looks sustained him. In August 2002, Delon told a weekly magazine, L’Humanite Hebdo, that he wouldn’t still be in the business if that weren’t so. “You’ll never see me old and ugly,” he said when he was already nearing 70, “because I’ll leave before, or I’ll die.” However, it was in 2019 that Delon encapsulated his feelings about his life’s meaning during a gala event honoring him at the Cannes Film Festival. “One thing I’m sure about is that if there’s something I’m proud of, really, the only thing, it’s my career.”
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