Alain Delon, who starred in cinema hits such as "The Leopard" and "The Swimming Pool," has died, French media say. He was particularly known for roles as gangster or hitman.
Alain Delon has diedImage: Oleg Nikishin/TASS/dpa/picture alliance
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Actor Alain Delon, one of the major stars of European cinema from the 1960s on, has died at the age of 88 after a long period of ill health, French media reported on Sunday.
Delon triumphed over a troubled early life to take leading roles in several major films, rising to fame in two movies by Italian director Luchino Visconti, "Rocco and His Brothers" in 1960 and "The Leopard" in 1963.
His last years were clouded by a family feud over his care following a 2019 stroke between his sons Anthony and Alain-Fabien, and his daughter Anouchka, an affair that was covered by French media in great detail.
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Delon on Sunday, calling him a "French monument."
"[...] Alain Delon played legendary roles and made the world dream. Lending his unforgettable face to turn our lives upside down," Macron wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "Melancholy, popular, secretive, he was more than a star: He was a French monument."
Troubled youth
Delon was born just outside Paris on November 8, 1935.
He was put into foster care aged just 4 after his parents split up and divorced.
Delon had a troubled youth, running away from home on at least one occasion and being thrown out of boarding schools several times.
At 17, he joined the Marines and served in Indochina, then under French rule.
After his return to France in the mid-1950s, he met French actor Jean-Claude Brialy and attended the Cannes film festival. There, an American talent scout, perhaps drawn by Delon's good looks and striking blue eyes, arranged a screen test for him.
13 cult films starring Alain Delon
French film legend Alain Delon has died at the age of 88. The actor was popular in the 1960s, and worked with some of the finest directors.
Image: picture alliance/picture alliance
'Rocco and his Brothers'
Alain Delon was 25 when he played in Italian director Luchino Visconti's 1960 "Rocco and his Brothers" — his first international movie.
Image: Granata Images/IMAGO
'Purple Noon'
That same year, Delon shot a movie that became a classic: "Purple Noon," based on "The Talented Mr. Ripley" by Patricia Highsmith. The thriller catapulted Delon to stardom.
Image: Granata Images/IMAGO
'The Eclipse'
This early film by Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni is still considered a milestone in film history today. In the 1962 work, Alain Delon starred opposite Monica Vitti.
Image: United Archives/IMAGO
'The Leopard'
In 1963, Visconti worked once again with the young French actor. In "The Leopard," adapted from the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Delon starred alongside Claudia Cardinale.
Image: Granata Images/IMAGO
'Have I the Right to Kill?'
During his long career, Delon mainly played in crime thrillers. The film noir "The Unvanquished," released in the US in 1964 as "Have I the Right to Kill?" is set in the Algerian war and once again featured Delon's sex appeal.
Image: Imago/Granata Images
'The Last Adventure'
Alain Delon shone beside beautiful women, but he was also good at portraying characters in movies on men's friendships and conflicts. In "The Last Adventure," he and the much older Lino Ventura were a perfect match.
Image: United Archives/IMAGO
'The Samourai'
In 1967, the French actor played his most career-defining, iconic role in Jean-Pierre Melville's classic, "The Samourai." In the cult movie, Delon depicts an ice-cold contract killer.
Image: United Archives/IMAGO
'Borsalino'
He played in many films in the early 1970s, often alongside other super stars — like Jean-Paul Belmondo in the gangster film "Borsalino."
Image: Imago/AD
'Borsalino'
He played in many films in the early 1970s, often alongside other super stars — like Jean-Paul Belmondo in the gangster film "Borsalino."
Image: Impress/United Archives/picture alliance
'The Assassination of Trotzky'
Co-starring with German-French actress Romy Schneider, Delon put on an impressive act in the 1971 film "Assassination of Trotzky," where he plays the assassin of Russian revolutionary Leo Trotzky (Richard Burton), in exile in Mexico.
Image: AP
'Scorpio'
By the early 1970s, Alain Delon was an international star. In 1973, the French actor made a film in the US, cast in the role of a hitman in the spy film "Scorpio."
Image: United Archives/IMAGO
'Mr. Klein'
Delon enjoyed success and fame in the '70s. In Joseph Losey's 1976 film "Mr. Klein," Delon took on the role of a French art dealer under Nazi occupation during the Second World War.
Image: United Archives/IMAGO
'Swann in Love'
During the second part of his long acting career, Delon worked mainly with French directors. But in 1984, he played in a film by German film director Volker Schlöndorff: "Swann in Love," based on a novel by Marcel Proust.
Image: United Archives/IMAGO
'New Wave'
"New Wave," directed by Jean-Luc Godard, follows the story of a drifter played by an ageing Delon. "Nouvelle Vague," the movie's original French title, refers to the French cinematic revolution by the same name in the early 1960s.
Image: Granata Images/IMAGO
Delon dies at 88
Delon had millions of fans around the world who adored him. But, he also drew legions of critics, with feminists appalled by the lifetime achievement award given to him at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019. This was his last major public appearance.
Delon went on from there to make his film debut in 1957 in "Quand la femme s'en mele" ("Send a Woman When the Devil Fails").
Others of his films, in which he frequently played gangsters or hitmen, were Henri Verneuil's 1963 film "Melodie en Sous-Sol" ("Any Number Can Win"), Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 "Le Samourai" ("The Godson"), "Borsalino" (1970) in which he starred with fellow French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, and the 1969 erotic thriller "La Piscine" ("The Swimming Pool").
In the latter film, he was reunited with real-life lover Romy Schneider, to whom he had previously been engaged for four years before breaking up with her by letter. He called her the "love of my life" after the tragic death of the French-German actor in 1982.
Delon (R) had a troubled relationship with Romy Schneider (L) over many yearsImage: IMAGO
Outspoken personality
Delon did not hold back with controversial opinions off-screen, among other things saying he regretted the abolition of the death penalty and criticizing gay marriage, which was legalized in France in 2013.
He also publicly defended the far-right National Front and was friends with its founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Delon was also known to have had friends in the underworld, telling The New York Times in a 1970 interview that: "I don't worry about what a friend does. Each is responsible for his own act. It doesn't matter what he does."
However, despite his ill health, he also voiced strong support for Ukraine as it battles the Russian invasion — and received the country's top order of merit for doing so.
"Since the first day of the war, Delon has spoken a lot in support of Ukraine. For us, it is a symbol, it is important," the Ukrainian Embassy in Paris said in April.
