French film legend Alain Delon, a divisive star known to some as a sex symbol and to others as an egotistical chauvinist, has died aged 88, his children announced Sunday.
The actor, known for his roles in classics “Purple Noon” (“Plein Soleil”, 1960) and “Le Samourai” (1967), died in the early hours of the morning, his son Anthony told AFP. He had been suffering from cancer.
“Alain Fabien, Anouchka, Anthony, as well as (his dog) Loubo, are deeply saddened to announce the passing of their father,” Delon’s children said in a statement to AFP.
“He passed away peacefully in his home in Douchy, surrounded by his three children and his family,” said the statement, which came after months of public family feuding over the star’s weakening health.
French President Emmanuel Macron called Delon a “French monument” who “played legendary roles and made the world dream”.
Fellow 1960s star Brigitte Bardot told AFP he left “a huge void that nothing and no one will be able to fill”.
Delon had millions of fans but also legions of critics, with feminists appalled by the lifetime achievement award the Cannes Film Festival gave him in 2019.
He lived his later years largely as a recluse, though his personal life kept him in the headlines.
In 2023, his three children filed a complaint against his live-in assistant Hiromi Rollin, accusing her of harassment and threatening behaviour.
The siblings went on to wage a public battle in the media and the courts, arguing over his health, which worsened after a stroke in 2019.
Instinctive genius
Far from a cerebral actor, Delon was considered an instinctive genius. He prided himself on never working on his technique, instead relying on charisma.
Former president of the Cannes festival, Gilles Jacob, paid tribute to Delon as “a lion, an actor with a steely gaze”, while Alberto Barbera, director of the Venice film festival, said he was an “icon” who had climbed “to the Olympus of the immortals”.
Delon’s looks were cinematic gold for filmmakers in the 1960s, when he played dark roles such as the manipulative anti-hero of “Purple Noon”, adapted from the Patricia Highsmith thriller “The Talented Mr Ripley”.
And in Jean-Pierre Melville’s “Le Samourai”, he set the template for one of Hollywood’s main archetypes: the enigmatic, silent hitman.
Directors from Martin Scorsese to John Woo and Quentin Tarantino acknowledge a debt to the inner life Delon gave his stylish killer.
“R.I.P to the angel-faced gangster,” US director Jim Jarmusch posted on Instagram, with a photo of Delon from “Le Samourai”.
Delon never managed to make it big in Hollywood. As the New York Times obituary noted, US critics “often saw Mr. Delon only as a pretty boy”.
And the Washington Post wrote in its obituary how he “never found an English role that fully captured his seductive power, but he nonetheless had an ardent global following”.
But international stars lined up to pay tribute.
Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, a screen idol a generation later, paid tribute with a post on X showing three photos of Delon in his prime and the words “Au revoir #AlainDelon. R.I.P.”
Some of his best films were from his time in Italy, including two collaborations with Luchino Visconti, “Rocco and his Brothers” (1960) and “The Leopard” (1963).
“The party’s over,” his co-star in “The Leopard”, Claudia Cardinale, said Sunday. “Tancredi has gone to dance with the stars,” she added, using the name of his character.
Several Paris cinemas were showing “The Leopard” Sunday to full houses.
Controversial views
Delon’s relationship with women caused controversy. His sons accused him of domestic violence, which Delon denied while admitting slapping women during quarrels.
Delon also drew criticism for supporting Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front, who was in favour of the death penalty and spoke against same-sex relationships.
He had a series of affairs, describing German actor Romy Schneider as the “love of my life” after their relationship in the 1960s.
German-born Velvet Underground singer Nico claimed he was the father of her son, Christian Aaron Boulogne — something Delon denied up to Boulogne’s death in 2023 from a heroin overdose.
Delon married Francine Canovas, known as Nathalie Delon, in 1964, a relationship that ended in divorce in 1969. Other high-profile relationships were with pop diva Dalida and model-turned-actor Mireille Darc.
His death put him back on frontpages Sunday, including in Italy where he made some of his best films in the 1950s and 60s.
La Repubblica bid “adieu to the myth of French cinema”.
Il Corriere della Sera lamented that “there will never be another actor like Delon”, while Switzerland’s Le Temps called him “a true badass with an angel’s face”.
Fans gather
Delon made his last major public appearance on the red carpet to receive an honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019.
“It’s a bit of a posthumous tribute, but from my lifetime,” he said when receiving the award.
Delon lived out his final years in a small village in France, surrounded by high walls, where he planned to be buried not far from his dogs.
Outside the entrance to his home in Douchy-Montcorbon, dozens of fans placed flowers to pay their respects.
“It’s a part of our youth that is gone, it’s very sad,” said Marie Arnold, laying white flowers with her sister Michele.