Legendary French actor Alain Delon dies aged 88

ParisLegendary French actor Alain Delon has died at the age of 88 in Douchy, central France, his three children announced in a statement to AFP on Sunday.

“Alain Fabien, Anouchka, Anthony and (their dog) Loubo “It is with deep regret that we announce the passing of our father. He passed away peacefully at his home in Douchy, surrounded by his three children and family,” the statement said.

“The actor of In full sun y The silence of a man He has gone to meet (the Virgin) Mary among the stars so dear to him,” he added.

“The family asks that their privacy be respected at this extremely painful time of mourning,” their children said.

The actor died “very early in the middle of the night,” they said.

Little seen since the 1990s, Alain Delon hit the headlines in the summer of 2023 when his three children filed a complaint against his lady-in-waiting, Hiromi Rollin, sometimes described as his companion, accusing her of taking advantage of their weakness.

His three children then waged a fratricidal war through the media and the courts, regarding the actor’s state of health, who suffered from lymphoma and suffered a stroke in 2019.

In May 2019, she returned to the red carpet at Cannes to receive an honorary Palme d’Or, amid tears and a speech with testamentary overtones.

“It’s a bit of a posthumous tribute, but while he’s alive,” Alain Delon said on that occasion.

One of the best-known actors in French cinema, he appeared in films that attracted a total of 134 million viewers, making him a box-office champion like Louis de Funès and Jean-Paul Belmondo at the same time.

Having shared the bill with great actors such as Jean Gabin, Simone Signoret, Romy Schneider and Lino Ventura, a large number of films in which he acted have become cinema classics, among which stand out: In full sun (1959), Rocco and his brothers (1960), The Eclipse of Antonioni (1962), The Leopard (1963), The silence of a man (1967), Our history (1984), among other films

Throughout his career, Delon won a dozen awards, including the César for best actor for Separate rooms in 1985, the Honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2019, the Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1995.