A look at French movie legend Alain Delon's life

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00:00He is one of France's biggest movie stars.

00:02He had a six-decade career.

00:04Now, here are just some of the awards he's won.

00:07Over those decades, he won a César Award,

00:10that's the equivalent in France of an Oscar,

00:13a Cannes, a Pandore, that's one of the top prizes,

00:16at the world's biggest film festival,

00:18an honorary Golden Bear at Berlin,

00:21as well as a Legion of Honor,

00:24another iconic award to win in France.

00:26Now, his career really took off in the 60s

00:29during what was called the New Wave movement,

00:32which was really the resurgence, like post-war,

00:34of France's cinema industry.

00:36Now, as the last report mentioned,

00:38his films included the likes of Plan Soleil,

00:42Rocco, and his brothers.

00:43And I think his most acclaimed ones

00:45would have to be La Piscine or The Swimming Pool.

00:47That was actually adapted in recent years

00:49into a film starring Tilda Swinton,

00:52as well as Le Samurai.

00:53Now, that really had quite an impact

00:56on many of the world's top filmmakers,

00:59including Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.

01:03Now, what kind of linked all his roles

01:05were he often played policemen or hitmen,

01:09or these really kind of charming chancers,

01:12because he really played on his good looks

01:15and charm in most of his films.

01:17Now, he's worked with some of the most iconic directors

01:20in cinema, such as Louis Mal, Jean-Luc Godard,

01:23and Antonioni.

01:25Now, he actually retired from acting in 1997,

01:29and despite being admired by Scorsese, Tarantino,

01:33as well as Leonardo DiCaprio,

01:35saying that he was one of the coolest actors

01:37in the history of cinema,

01:39he actually never made it in Hollywood.

01:42Jenny, tell us a bit more about his personal life.

01:44It was colorful, to say the least,

01:46perhaps more controversial.

01:49That's right.

01:50Very colorful, very controversial.

01:52Now, you could say he was a bit of a playboy in the day.

01:56He had many different relationships with actresses,

01:59such as Mireille d'Arc, Nathalie Delon,

02:02as well as quite early on in his career

02:05with the iconic actress, Romy Schneider.

02:08Now, he actually said in recent years

02:09that she was the real love of his life,

02:12but he actually regretted having not married her.

02:15Now, in more complicated legal matters,

02:18he was involved in something called the Markovic affair

02:20in 1968.

02:22Now, that was after Delon's bodyguard

02:24was found dead,

02:26and there were many conspiracies around his death,

02:29such as involving the criminal underworld,

02:32as well as the then presidential candidate, George Pompidou.

02:36So all very mysterious.

02:38We never really found out what happened with that.

02:40Now, actually, this year, he had more controversy,

02:43a legal controversy.

02:44His home was actually raided,

02:46and police seized 72 firearms

02:50and 3,000 rounds of ammunition,

02:52and he was actually not allowed to have any of those.

02:55So hopefully he'll be remembered

02:57for his illustrious film career

02:58and not for these kind of complicated legal matters.

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