Alain Delon – ”The Face of an Angel and the Soul of the Devil”

Alain Delon

He gained the most popularity for his roles as villains and uncompromising police officers. However, he also played complex roles in films by the greatest artists of cinema: Visconti, Antonioni, and Clement. His turbulent private life merged with his film creations, creating the unique legend of Alain Delon.

Alain Delon was born in 1935 in Sceaux (a town south of Paris) into a modest family of a cinema manager and a pharmacist. The future star did not have a happy childhood; when he was only 4 years old, his parents divorced and sent him to live with his family. When his guardians died in an accident, Alain was taken in by his mother and her second husband. Delon was being groomed for his stepfather’s profession – he was to become a butcher. He failed to finish any school, as his unruly behavior meant he was constantly being expelled and transferred.

At the age of 17, he moved out of his home and enlisted in the navy. The young Delon was sent to Indochina, where he found himself in the midst of armed conflict. For a young man entering adulthood, it was a difficult school of life. What’s more, at the end of his service, he was arrested for illegal possession of weapons and spent nearly a year in prison. After completing his military service, Delon did not think about working in the film industry. In Paris, he rented a small room with a friend and took on odd jobs. He also became involved with the Parisian bohemian community that gathered in the famous Saint-Germain-des-Pres district, where he soon met a young actress, Brigitte Auber.

Alain Delon in “L’Eclisse”

Alain Delon – a rebellious young man conquers Europe

It was his relationship with the film artist that directed Delan’s interest towards cinema. Together with Jean-Claude Brialy, he went to the Cannes Film Festival in a borrowed tailcoat, where he was spotted by an American talent scout, who offered the Frenchman a seven-year contract overseas. However, while taking an English course, Delon received another role – in Yves Allégret’s French film “Send a Woman When the Devil Fails”.

His debut on the big screen proved so successful that it almost immediately opened the door to a career for the young actor. After “Be Beautiful But Shut Up”, he landed a prestigious role alongside the young but already famous Romy Schneider. They starred together in Pierre Gaspard-Huit’s “Christine”. Delon played a young lieutenant in love with the title character, who dies in a duel with the husband of his former lover. The film marked the beginning of a relationship between the two actors, considered one of the most famous romances in the history of cinema (see: Romy Schneider and Alain Delon). Ultimately, the couple separated after a few years, but they remained close friends until the end of Romy Schneider’s life.

Alain Delon with the masters of cinema

Delon’s film career is impressive. Even as a very young actor, he was invited to work with great European directors, and what’s more, these turned out to be extremely significant roles, ones that broke with his image as a handsome young man. He starred in Luchino Visconti’s film “Rocco and His Brothers” (1960), playing the role of a Sicilian boxer who saves his family from trouble. In 1962, Delon appeared in another Italian director’s film, Michelangelo Antonioni’s “L’Eclisse”, where he starred alongside Monica Vitti.

Alain Delon and Romy Schneider in “The Swimming Pool”

Rene Clement cast the French actor in the dark role of Tom Ripley, a killer and con man, in “Purple Noon” (1960). The movie was based on Patricia Highsmith’s best-selling crime novel. Years later, Delon recalled his collaboration with the director as a fascinating adventure, saying of Clement: “He was like a conductor who could hear every single one of fifty instruments.” The film “Purple Noon” shaped Delon’s rebellious image, characteristic of his entire career. A paraphrase of a line from the work: “Alain Delon, beautiful and ruthless – the face of an angel and the soul of the devil’” stuck with the actor for years, almost merging his real life with his film roles.

In 1963, it was time for a great role in Visconti’s “The Leopard”. The movie is set during Giuseppe Garibaldi’s revolution in Sicily. Delon plays an Italian aristocrat who marries a wealthy townswoman, Angelica. The French actor formed a beautiful couple on screen with Claudia Cardinale. In his private life, he became greatly fascinated by Visconti, a Milanese aristocrat who impressed him with his manners, education, and splendor. To this day, it is not known whether the French actor and Italian director had a homosexual relationship during this period.

Visconti also cast Delon and Romy Schneider in a high-profile play based on John Ford’s drama, “Tis Pity She’s a Whore”, about a scandalous incestuous love affair. The play premiered in Paris and became one of the most outstanding achievements of the two actors, who were engaged at the time.

Delon – a womanizer

Delon always aroused enormous interest among women, which resulted in constant flirtations. While still in a relationship with Romy Schneider on the set of the film “Purple Noon”, he began an affair with singer Nico, who gave birth to their son Christian Aaron in 1962. Nico claimed that Delon was the child’s father, but he never admitted to it. What’s more, when Alain’s mother adopted the boy, who had been left without care, the actor broke off contact with her for several decades.

Alain Delon and Romy Schneider

The next woman in Delon’s life was Nathalie Canovas, a model and bartender. When the actor finally separated from Schneider, he married Canovas and moved with her to the United States to pursue his career. Their relationship produced a son, Anthony. The marriage lasted until 1968. Delon married his second wife, Rosallie van Breemen, in 1987. The actor has two children from this relationship: a son, Alain-Fabien, and a daughter, Anouchka.

Delon Alain – Frenchman in Hollywood

In 1964, Delon starred in the gangster film “Any Number Can Win”, directed by Henri Verneuil, which was very well received by the audience. The young actor starred alongside one of the biggest stars of French cinema, Jean Gabin. In the same year, Delon took part in the Spanish production “The Black Tulip”, which cemented his image as a dark Don Juan. What’s more, thanks to this film, Delon became Jean-Paul Belmondo’s main rival on the French film scene. Belmondo almost simultaneously starred in Jean-Luc Godard’s famous “Pierrot le Fou”. After the success of The Black Tulip, Delon decided to take control of his career and start his own production company. However, when his first film, Revenge, was a box office flop, a discouraged Delon decided to try his luck in Hollywood.

However, his American adventure did not bring Delon what he expected. Instead of ambitious projects, he was offered secondary roles in films such as “The Yellow Rolls-Royce”, “Once a Thief”, “Lost Command”, and “Texas Across the River”. Delon felt completely disappointed with the American dream, also in terms of everyday life across the ocean:

“(…) I was a little disappointed, not only by everything I saw that was artificial, but even by our house, which was very nice and had many amenities. I quickly realized that ‘wonderful Hollywood’ is just an idea, because exaggerating everything destroys the magic.”

Alain Delon in “Le Samouraï”

Delon as Samurai

After returning to France, Delon starred in several box office hits, and then came the role of his life. It was his performance in the movie “Le Samouraï “(1967), directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, which gave the French actor the undisputed status of a star. Delon played the role of Jef Costello, a hired killer who has to deal with disloyal clients.

In this case, the crime genre is a vehicle for the deeper meaning of the film, which tells the story of human loneliness in a world full of evil. The director himself stated that he entrusted this role to Delon because “there is a typically romantic desire for self-destruction in him. A romantic love of death, which probably stems from the fact that as a young man he fought in Indochina.”

Alain Delon – “The Swimming Pool” and the Markovica Affair

An extremely significant work in Delon’s career turned out to be “The Swimming Pool”, directed by Jacques Deray. It is a fascinating story of a love triangle in which two men fight for the affections of one woman in a truly holiday setting. The rivalry ends in the tragic death of one of them. The film is all the more striking because the female lead was played by Romy Schneider. What’s more, it was Delon himself who came up with the idea of hiring the actress, whose career was in crisis at the time.

At around the same time, the Markovica scandal broke out, which severely damaged Delon’s image. Stefan Markovic was the actor’s personal bodyguard and secretary. When the man was murdered in 1968, his infamous activities involving blackmailing celebrities with compromising material came to light. Delon himself began to be suspected of involvement in the whole affair. Ultimately, the actor managed to refute the allegations, but the scandal continued to reverberate for several years.

Alain Delon in Borsalino

Delon – producer and businessman

In 1969, Delon starred alongside the legendary Gabin and Lino Ventura in the cult film “The Sicilian Clan”. He quickly became independent from the big studios and took control of the industry himself. He had mixed success, but his successful projects included films such as “Borsalino” (1970), in which he starred alongside Jean-Paul Belmondo, “The Cercle Rouge”(1970), “Two Men in Town” (1973) and “Mr. Klein” (1976). In 1971, he appeared on screen for the last time with Romy Schneider in the film about Leon Trotsky. In addition, the French actor invested money in many different ventures, such as organizing boxing competitions, charter flights, and the arms industry.

An attempt to move away from his image as a dark brute was the film “Our Story” (1984), in which Delon played an ordinary mechanic and alcoholic. The movie was a prestigious failure, but the actor was awarded a César for his performance. In “Swann in Love”, he played Baron de Charlus, the main character in Marcel Proust’s famous novel, “In Search of Lost Time”. Alain Delon died on August 18, 2024, at the age of 88. He passed away at his home in Douchy, surrounded by his family.

Delon is certainly a phenomenon of the cinema world, the creator of a unique myth in which film roles cannot be separated from reality. Although he was adored by women, over time his solitary nature prevailed. He most often spoke provocatively about himself in the third person – “he, Delon” – aware of the creation of his own image. He endorses clothes, perfumes, cognac, and champagne. But who was he really? Perhaps Volker Schlodndorff summed up Delon accurately when he said: “He developed a kind of acting, namely playing himself.”