Many of his iconic roles include French acting star Alain Delon Samurai, Full sun And leopardHe died in France at the age of 88.
The actor’s children told AFP in a press statement that their father died on Sunday at his long-time chattel home in Dauchi village.
His death marks the death of one of the last remaining icons of the French cinema scene in the 1960s and 70s, when the country was in an economic boom in the wake of World War II.
The star, who was at the height of his career from the 1960s to the 1980s, fell into acting by accident.
Born on November 8, 1935, in Sceaux, a suburb of Paris, he had a difficult childhood after his parents divorced when he was still young.
He entered military school at the age of 17. After being caught stealing equipment, he was given the choice of being discharged or signing up for a tour of duty in Southeast Asia (then Indonesia).
Delon fought in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, but returned to France in 1956 after getting into trouble again after crashing a jeep he had stolen.
While he moved to Paris and worked odd jobs to make ends meet, Delon got his first introduction to the world of cinema through a relationship with actress Brigitte Auber, who had recently appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s film. To catch a thief.
After they got together, he took her to the Cannes Film Festival in 1957, where she met actor-director Jean-Claude Briley and her future agent, Georges Beaum.
“I came with a woman that I liked, that loved me … I took everything, wore the red carpet, but also, I felt at home … not least, I say this without pretense, because it was clear to me. I was not bad looking” He said at the Cannes Masterclass in 2019.
His next big break came with actress Michelle Gardue, with whom he had an affair. She convinced her husband, director Yves Allegret, to give her a small role in his film When the girl gets involved.
Delon was always open about the role women played in early life.
“If I hadn’t met the women I did, I would have died a long time ago. It was women — I don’t know why — who loved me, who brought me to this profession, who wanted me to do this, who fought for me to do this,” she said at a Cannes masterclass.
Her career quickly took off from there, with Delon then appearing in Marc Allegrets Stay beautiful and calmIt also starred Jean-Paul Belmondo, followed by Pierre Gaspard-Hood ChristineIt will see Delon appear opposite Romy Schneider.
This would mark the beginning of the most popular cinematic love stories of the time. Schneider is already popular behind her Sissy roles, the 23-year-old Delon was still relatively unknown at the time.
The relationship only lasted five years, but they remained close, famously reuniting on the big screen in Jacques Terrey. Swimming pool In 1969.
In the interim, Delon rose to stardom with René Clement’s 1960 crime thriller. Full sunFor his performance as the deadly Tom Ripley.
In the same year, he also starred in Luchino Visconti’s Milan-set melodrama Rocco and his brothers. Delon will reunite with Visconti leopard In 1963, he starred alongside Claudia Cardinale and Burt Lancaster.
Throughout this career, Delon earned over 107 acting credits, with other highlights including Jean-Pierre Melville’s hitman thriller Le Samouraï (1967), Borsalino (1970), The Red Circle (1970) and Joseph Losey’s. Mr. Klein (1976)
