PARIS.- Alain Delonhe French actor The internationally acclaimed actor who played both the villain and the policeman and won hearts around the world has died aged 88, French media reported on Sunday.
With his handsome looks and tender demeanor, the prolific actor was able to combine toughness with charm, a vulnerable quality that made him one of France’s most memorable leading men.
Delon was also a producer, appearing in plays and, in his later years, in television films.
His children announced his death on Sunday in a statement to the French national news agency, Agence France-Presse, a routine occurrence in France. Tributes to Delon immediately poured in on social media, and all major French media outlets changed their programming to cover his extensive career.
He had been diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma, a type of cancer, his son Anthony said this year.
For the past year, Delon’s fragile health had been at the centre of a family dispute over his care that had led to harsh statements in the media between his three children.
At the height of his career in the 1960s and 1970s, some of the world’s most distinguished conductors, from Luchino Visconti to Joseph Losey, asked to work with Delon.
In his later years he became disillusioned with the film industry, saying that money had killed the dream. “Money, commerce and television have destroyed the dream machine,” he wrote in a 2003 issue of the weekly Le Nouvel Observateur. “My cinema is dead. And so am I.”
However, he continued to work frequently and appeared in several television films into his seventies.
Delon’s presence was unforgettable, whether he played depraved heroes or romantic leads. He first gained acclaim for Réne Clément’s 1960 film “Plein Soleil,” in which he played a murderer trying to steal his victim’s identity.
He made several Italian films, and worked with Visconti on the 1961 film Rocco ei suoi fratelli (“Rocco and His Brothers”), in which Delon plays a self-sacrificing brother trying to help his siblings. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
Visconti’s 1963 film “Il gattopardo” (“The Leopard”), starring Delon, won the Palme d’Or, the Cannes Film Festival’s top honor. He also worked on such films as “Paris brûle-t-il?” (“Is Paris Burning?”), scripted by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola, among others; “La piscine” (“The Swimming Pool”), directed by Jacques Deray; and “The Assassination of Trotsky” by Losey.
Delon began producing films in 1968—26 of them by 1990—with an energy and self-confidence that he maintained throughout his life.
That confidence was evident when she told Femme in 1996, “I like to be loved the way I love myself!” an attitude that was reflected in her on-screen charisma.
Delon continued to captivate audiences for years, although along the way he was criticised for comments that were considered old-fashioned. In 2010 he appeared in “Un mari de trop” and in 2011 he returned to the stage with “Une journee ordinaire”, with his daughter Anouchka.
She briefly chaired the Miss France jury but resigned in 2013 following a disagreement over some controversial statements, which included criticism of women, LGBTQ+ rights, and migrants. Despite these controversies, in 2019 she received the Palme d’Honneur at Cannes, a decision that sparked a debate.
Born on 8 November 1935 in Sceaux, south of Paris, he was placed in foster care after his parents separated when he was four. He then attended a Catholic boarding school.
At 17, he joined the army and was sent to Indochina. Back in France in 1956, he worked in odd jobs, including as a waiter and delivery boy at the Paris meat market, before turning to acting.
Delon fathered his son Anthony in 1964 with his then wife Nathalie Canovas, who appeared with him in Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 film Le samouraï (“The Samurai”). He had two more children, Anouchka and Alain-Fabien, with a later partner, Roselie van Breemen, with whom he produced a song and a music video in 1987. He was also believed to be the father of Ari Boulogne, the son of German model and singer Nico, although he never publicly acknowledged his paternity.
FUENTE: AP
