Cinema: Film legend Alain Delon is dead

“The Cruel Angel” was the role of his life. The French actor thrilled critics and audiences as a ruthless killer. Now the film legend has died on Sunday at the age of 88, as the French news agency AFP reported, referring to his three children.

“Alain Fabien, Anouchka, Anthony and (his dog) Loubo are deeply saddened to announce the death of their father,” they said in a joint press release. He died peacefully in his home in Douchy, surrounded by his three children and his family.

“The Ice-Cold Angel” became a myth

In more than half a century, the handsome man has made over 80 films, including masterpieces such as “Only the Sun Was Witness”, “Borsalino” and “The Panther”. The actor, who was born on November 8th near Paris, became a legend with “The Cruel Intention” directed by Jean-Pierre Melville.

With the crime thriller from 1967, Delon laid the foundation for his image as a professional killer and emotionless pretty boy who seduces everyone and loves no one: as a gangster in “Silent Night” (1963), as a boxer in “Brothers Rocco” (1960), as an ice-cold seducer in “The Sicilian Clan” (1969) and as an unscrupulous murderer in “The Sun Was Witness” (1960). He put the finishing touches to his image with the erotic thriller “The Swimming Pool” (1969) with Romy Schneider and “The Panther” (1985).

Delon, the womanizer

Delon was also a womanizer. His affairs filled the pages of the gossip press – especially his relationship with Romy Schneider. After separating from Dutch model Rosalie van Breemen in 2002, Delon lived mostly alone. He spent his last years on his estate La Brûlerie in Douchy in central France, which he had bought in 1971. In 2019, he was honored with the Palme d’Or for his lifetime achievement at the Cannes Film Festival.