French star Alain Delon's rise to fame and decades-long career

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00With his angelic features and magnetic gaze,

00:02Alain Delon lit up cinema screens across the world for over 60 years.

00:08Being an actor involves years of work. It's a career.

00:11And for me, that represents a lifetime.

00:14Born in the Parisian suburb of Seau in 1935,

00:17Delon enlisted in the Navy at the age of 17 and left for French Indochina.

00:22On his return, he lived off odd jobs and met Brigitte Aubert.

00:26An actress, she helped him start out in a film called

00:31Send a Woman When the Devil Fails.

00:34I was quite surprised to become the object of a film star's desire.

00:40I wasn't prepared for that.

00:42And that's also when I realised that not everyone was on a level footing starting out,

00:46and that looks counted for a lot.

00:50His career took off three years later with crime thriller Purple Noon by René Clément,

00:55where he seduced audiences with a hypnotic and mysterious character.

01:10It was then-Italian director Lucchino Visconti that offered him one of his most memorable roles,

01:15a boxer, in Rocco and His Brothers, alongside Annie Girardo.

01:25Time magazine once described him as the most handsome man in the world.

01:30Delon was a star, and he knew it.

01:33It's the public that makes you a celebrity, or it's the public that makes you a star.

01:36The star is something more. It's like a blessing. It's obvious.

01:41He starred in over 90 films with some of the greatest directors of his time,

01:45including Jean-Luc Godard.

01:47He played roles in The Leopard with Claude De Cardinal,

01:50in Any Number Can Win with his idol Jean Gabin,

01:53in The Leopard with Claude De Cardinal,

01:57The Samurai,

01:59Mr. Kline,

02:01or Our History, which earned him his only César award.

02:06And of course, the swimming pool, starring Romy Schneider,

02:10perhaps his most sensual role.

02:15Romy was his first true love. They spent five years together and were engaged.

02:19He gave birth to his first son, Anthony, in 1964.

02:23He also spent 15 years of his life with actress Mireille D'Arc,

02:26and later met model and TV presenter Rosélie van Breemen.

02:30Together, they had two children, Anoushka, born in 1990,

02:33and Alain Fabien, born four years later.

02:37During the final years of his life,

02:38Alain Delon lived as a recluse in his estate in central France.

02:42He suffered three strokes in 2019, which severely weakened him.

02:46And at the age of 88, he witnessed his children tear each other apart

02:49over their inheritance.

02:51He died adored by many, if not worshipped, but alone.

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