French actor Alain Delon dies aged 88
Alain Delon, who starred in some of the biggest hits of French cinema and was recognised worldwide for his good looks, has died at the age of 88.
The actor’s children Alain Fabien, Anouchka and Anthony Delon, announced the news in a statement to AFP Sunday morning.
“He passed away peacefully in his home in Douchy,” the statement reads. “His family asks you to please respect his privacy, in this extremely painful moment of mourning,” they wrote.
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute on Sunday to Delon, calling him not just a legendary actor but a “monument”.
“Alain Delon played legendary roles and made the world dream. Lending his unforgettable face to turn our lives upside down,” Mr Macron wrote on X. “Melancholy, popular, secretive, he was more than a star: he was a French monument.”
Described as a “sacred monster” of French cinema, Delon appeared in 88 movies and seven TV films, produced and directed dozens of feature films and performed in seven plays throughout his illustrious career which began at the age of 23.
Some of the cult classics that made him a world famous actor included Plein Soleil, Rocco and His Brothers, The Leopard, Mélodie en sous-sol, Le Samoura?, La Piscine and Monsieur Klein.
His “devilish beauty” made him a heartthrob for many, while his string of romances with Romy Schneider, Brigitte Bardot and Dalida were pored over by the press.
A rarity on the screen since the 1990s, Delon made headlines in 2023 when 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 the star’s state of health, which included a stroke in 2019.
His looks were cinematic gold for filmmakers in the 1960s, playing roles of pretty boy killers and mysterious schemers like in Purple Noon based on the 1955 novel The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith.
He went on to set the template for one of Hollywood’s favourite tropes - the mysterious, cerebral hitman - with his performance as the silent killer in Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samura? (1967). Many acclaimed directors, such as Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and John Woo, acknowledge a debt to Delon for his portrayal of a stylish killer - although the French actor never made it big in Hollywood.
While he was universally admired, he also faced criticism and judgement. Some questioned his support for Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the far-Right National Front (later renamed the National Rally), who was in favour of the death penalty and spoke against homosexuality.
Ahead of Delon’s 2019 return to Cannes, he faced controversy over his relationship with women, with his sons previously accusing him of domestic violence. While he denied this, he admitted to slapping women who attacked him during quarrels.
The star was also mocked for his ego and habit of talking about himself in the third person. But fans who adored him will think back to his opening line in the film Le Samura?: “There is no deeper solitude than that of the samurai, except that of a tiger in the jungle.”
