Legendary Actor Alain Delon Dies at 88

Legendary French actor Alain Delon has died, marking the end of an era in French cinema. Delon was 88 years old and had been diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma earlier in 2024.

“It’s a page being turned in the history of French cinema,” said French producer Alain Terzian on France Inter radio. “Every time he arrived somewhere … there was a kind of almost mystical, quasi-religious respect. He was fascinating.”

Delon is best known for his roles in films like Le Guepard (The Leopard) in 1963, Is Paris Burning, Purple Noon, and Le Samourai in 1967. He also attempted to break into English-language films in the late ’60s and early ’70s, starring in the western Red Sun alongside Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune, and Ursula Andress.

Delon’s children confirmed his passing on Sunday in a statement to France’s Agence France-Presse. In recent years, his health had been a contentious issue among his children. The actor also faced controversy amid the MeToo movement, with his final public appearance in 2019 resulting in a lifetime achievement Palm d’Or that was protested by women’s rights groups and others.

He made controversial comments over the years about the abolition of the death penalty, same-sex marriages, and the right for gay couples to adopt children. His later years were marked by disputes between his children. Delon’s oldest son, Anthony, comes from his marriage to actress and model Nathalie Delon, which lasted from 1964 until 1969. He also had another son, Christian Boulogne, from a relationship with singer/actress/model Nico and two children with Dutch actress Rosalie van Breemen, named Anouchka Delon and Alain-Fabien Delon.

“Anthony and Alain-Fabien had accused Anouchka of hiding Delon’s state of health from them and manipulating the actor,” CNN reports through their affiliate BFMTV. A court battle ensued in 2023, with Delon’s children filing complaints against Hiromi Rollin, a close companion of the actor who claimed to be his partner. She retaliated with a suit of her own, though all complaints were eventually dismissed.

Source: Associated Press, France Inter, CNN