Alain Delon, one of the biggest international movie stars of all time, has passed away at 88. The actor, who’d been in poor health in recent years, is widely considered one of the most iconic French stars ever. First rising to fame as part of a new crop of actors during the French New Wave, Delon was the first person to play Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley in Purple Noon, while also starring in classics such as The Leopard, Rocco and His Sisters and many more.
Yet, it was his role as the cold, calculating hitman in Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai which remains the part he’s arguably best known for. Playing an impeccably dressed killer named Jeff, who is double-crossed by his employers, pretty much every hitman movie in the last fifty years owes a debt of gratitude to his performance. Chow Yun-Fat’s style in A Better Tomorrow and The Killer was heavily influenced by Delon (director John Woo worshipped Melville’s movies), and a line can be drawn straight from Delon in that film to Keanu Reeves in the John Wick movies. As an aside, I actually went to see a 4K restoration of Le Samourai recently, at it still plays like gangbusters.
Given his ease with English, it wasn’t too long before Hollywood came calling, but Delon’s career in Hollywood never really took off, with him starring in movies like Texas Across the River (opposite Dean Martin) and the notoriously awful (but fun) Airport’79: The Concorde.
Even if his career in the US never really took off, his fame in France, much of Europe, and Asia never really dimmed. In the seventies and eighties, he reinvented himself as a tough guy action star, appearing in a slew of gangster and cop movies, including Borsellino (opposite the great Jean-Paul Belmondo), Three Men to Kill, Cop’s Story, and more. He stayed active in recent years, starring in supporting roles in film and on TV before being sidelined by poor health.
His family made the following statement on his passing to AFP News Agency: “Alain Fabien, Anouchka, Anthony, as well as (his dog) Loubo, are deeply saddened to announce the passing of their father. He passed away peacefully in his home in Douchy, surrounded by his three children and his family.”