French Actor Alain Delon Passes Away
French star Alain Delon, renowned for films such as Purple Noon and Le Samouraï, has died at the age of 89.
According to Reuters on August 18, Delon passed away surrounded by family at his home. His health had deteriorated since a stroke in 2019, and he rarely left his estate in Douchy, Val de Loire, France.
Delon was one of Europe’s leading actors in the latter half of the 20th century, collaborating with esteemed directors such as Jean-Pierre Melville, René Clément, and Jacques Deray. He also worked with Luchino Visconti, Louis Malle, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Jean-Luc Godard. Despite his success in European cinema, Delon did not achieve significant success in Hollywood.
Born in 1935 in Sceaux, a small suburb of Paris, Delon struggled with school and left at the age of 14 to work in his stepfather’s slaughterhouse. In 1952, he joined the navy and served in Indochina. Due to disciplinary issues, he was imprisoned for a year and discharged from the navy in 1956. Discovered by Hollywood producer David O. Selznick at Cannes, he signed a contract and made his debut in Send a Woman When the Devil Fails (1957) directed by Yves Allégret.
Delon’s striking appearance quickly earned him leading roles. In 1958, he starred opposite Romy Schneider in Christine, playing a soldier who falls in love with a musician’s daughter. Delon and Schneider began a romantic relationship and were engaged a year later.
In 1959, Delon starred in Three Murderesses by Michel Boisrond, which was a box office success in France and was screened in the U.S. His role in Purple Noon (1960) further solidified his stardom in French cinema. The film, based on Patricia Highsmith’s crime novels, featured Delon as Tom Ripley, a master of impersonation who murders a wealthy businessman and assumes his life. The New York Times praised Delon’s performance as “moving and intense.”
Delon attempted to break into English-language films, appearing in The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964) and Lost Command (1966), but none achieved significant success in Hollywood, leading him to return to France.
In 1967, Delon starred in Le Samouraï directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, portraying a hitman in a raincoat. This success launched a series of French crime films including The Sicilian Clan (1969) and The Red Circle (1970).
Throughout the 1970s, Delon continued his acting career, starring in Mr. Klein, which won the César Award for Best Film in 1977. The film, set in 1942 during the Nazi occupation of France, featured Delon as an art dealer mistaken for a Jewish man with the same name. In 1985, he won the César Award for Best Actor for his role in Bertrand Blier’s Our Story.
Delon announced his retirement in 1997 but returned to acting in 2008 with Asterix at the Olympic Games. In 2017, he mentioned to AFP that he would do one more film before retiring, though that project has not yet been realized. His most recent role was a guest appearance in the Russian film S Novym godom, mamy (2012) directed by Artyom Aksenenko.
Delon’s personal life was complex; he was once considered a sex symbol. After becoming engaged to Romy Schneider in 1959, he had an affair with German singer Christa Päffgen (Nico) and had a child in 1962. Schneider attempted to reconcile but the engagement ended in 1963. Delon married model Nathalie Barthélemy in 1964, with whom he had a son, but the marriage lasted only five years.
After the divorce, Delon did not remarry but lived with various partners. From 1968 to 1983, he was in a relationship with actress Mireille Darc. In 1987, he began a relationship with model Rosalie van Breemen, with whom he had two children before their separation in 2002.
