Alain Delon, an internationally acclaimed French actor who embodied both the bad guy and the policeman and made hearts throb around the world, has died. He was 88. Delon's children, who said earlier this year that he'd been diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma, announced his death in a statement, French media reported. Tributes to Delon immediately started pouring in on social platforms, and all leading media switched to full-fledged coverage of his career, the AP reports. President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute on X to "a French monument," saying, "Alain Delon has played legendary roles and made the world dream," he wrote. "Melancholic, popular, secretive, he was more than a star."
With his handsome looks and tender manner, the prolific actor combined toughness with an appealing, vulnerable quality that made him one of France's memorable leading men. Delon was also a producer, appeared in plays and, in later years, in television movies. At the prime of his career, in the 1960s and '70s, Delon was sought out by some of the world's top directors, including Luchino Visconti and Joseph Losey. In his later years, Delon grew disillusioned with the movie industry. "Money, commerce and television have wrecked the dream machine," he wrote in a 2003 edition of newsweekly Le Nouvel Observateur. "My cinema is dead. And me, too." But he continued to work frequently, appearing in several TV movies in his 70s.
Delon's presence was unforgettable, whether playing morally depraved heroes or romantic leading men. He first drew acclaim in 1960 with Plein Soleil, directed by Réne Clément, in which he played a murderer trying to take on the identity of his victims. He made several Italian movies, working, most notably with Visconti in the 1961 film Rocco and His Brothers. Other films included Le Guepard, Clément's Is Paris Burning, Jacques Deray's La Piscine, and Losey's The Assassination of Trotsky. In 1968, Delon began producing movies. He announced an end to his acting career in 1999, only to continue, appearing in Les Acteurs the same year. Later. he appeared in television police shows. His good looks sustained him. In 2002, Delon said he wouldn't still be in the business if that weren't so.
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"You'll never see me old and ugly," he said when he was nearing 70, "because I'll leave before, or I'll die." Delon juggled diverse activities throughout his life, from setting up a stable of trotting horses to developing cologne for men and women, followed by watches, glasses and other accessories. He also collected paintings and sculptures. After his death, French film producer Alain Terzian said Delon was "the last of the giants," per the AP. "It's a page being turned in the history of French cinema," he told France Inter radio. Terzian recalled that "every time he arrived somewhere ... there was a kind of almost mystical, quasi-religious respect. He was fascinating."
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