Alain Delon

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Alain Delon (1963)

Alain Delon [ alɛ̃ dəlɔ̃ ] (born November 8, 1935 in Sceaux , Île-de-France ) is a French film actor . He celebrated his breakthrough in 1960 with the films Only the Sun Was Witness and Rocco and His Brothers . Then he was one of the most popular stars of European cinema for over 20 years and shot with renowned directors such as Luchino Visconti ( The Leopard ), Michelangelo Antonioni ( Love 1962 ) , Jean-Pierre Melville ( Four in the red circle )and Jean-Luc Godard (Nouvelle Vague) . With his partner Romy Schneider for a while , he made several films such as The Swimming Pool . Although he also played classic hero roles in a few films, he was often cast in roles of a shady nature - as in one of his most famous appearances as a professional killer in Melville's Ice Cold Angel (1967).

Life

After his mother and father separated when he was four years old, Alain Delon grew up with foster parents. He flew from six different schools and was sent to boarding school after the death of his foster parents . At 14 he left school and worked in his stepfather's butcher shop. From 1952 to 1956 he was a marine and also served in the Indochina War in 1953/1954 . After his military service, Delon worked at the Parisian vegetable market Les Halles and took acting lessons.

Delon in Belgrade , 1962

From 1959 to 1964 he had a headline-grabbing relationship with his colleague Romy Schneider . Between 1964 and 1968 he was married to the actress Nathalie Delon . Their son Anthony Delon (born September 30, 1964) has also worked as a film actor since 1987, but was unable to build on his father's success.

In 1968, Stevan Marković, the Yugoslav bodyguard, friend and alleged lover of Delon's then wife Nathalie, was found murdered. The actor, who was particularly successful in gangster roles, has since been said to have connections to the underworld . Although the tabloid press forced this speculation, no evidence could ever be produced.

From 1969 to 1984 Delon had a relationship with colleague Mireille Darc . Between 1987 and 2002 he was in a relationship with the Dutch model Rosalie van Breemen . The two children Anouchka (born November 25, 1990) and Alain-Fabien (born March 18, 1994) come from the connection.

The German pop artist Nico stated that Delon was the father of her son Aaron "Ari" Päffgen, who was born in 1962. Delon always denied this paternity , which at the time also led to a falling out with his mother, Edith Boulogne. Most of the time with her, Ari Päffgen grew up near Paris in the late 1960s; later he was adopted by the family.

In addition to his work as a film actor, Delon organized boxing matches , ran a racing team and successfully marketed perfume , champagne and cognac .

Alain Delon lived for a long time in Chêne-Bougeries in the canton of Geneva , where he is also entitled to live . In March 2000 he received Swiss citizenship . He owns an apartment in Geneva . Today he lives - together with several pets - in seclusion on the property he bought in 1971 in Douchy, France, in the Loiret department .

plant

First successes

In 1957 Alain Delon got his first film role: In Die Killer let bitten , he played a murderer in a supporting role and thus found an image early on , with which the audience identified him for decades. Delon met Romy Schneider while filming Christine (1958). In the classic thriller Only the Sun Was Witness (1960), he won over critics and audiences in the role of the smart but unscrupulous criminal Tom Ripley . Patricia Highsmith , the author of the novel, described him as the ideal interpreter of this complex character.

The role of Ripley marked the international breakthrough for Delon. In the same year he also played the leading role in Luchino Visconti's social study Rocco and his brothers and finally established himself as a star. The actor became a heartthrob and the epitome of smart masculinity.

1960s

In 1963, Delon appeared in Luchino Visconti's work The Leopard alongside Burt Lancaster and received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Young Actor . He also tried to gain a foothold in Hollywood ( The Yellow Rolls-Royce , 1964), but quickly returned to France. Delon starred in war films ( Die Hölle von Algier , 1964) and was also successful as a youthful cloak-and-sword hero ( The Black Tulip , 1964), following Gérard Philipe's successor . The Hell of Algiers was also the first of over 20 films that Delon supervised as a producer.

In 1967 Alain Delon played two of his most important roles. In the melancholy adventure film Die Abenteurer he played a young prospector alongside Lino Ventura . In Jean-Pierre Melville's classic thriller The Ice Cold Angel , he played the elegant hit man Jeff Costello . The film defined Delon's image as an ice-cold angel of death in a trench coat .

Alain Delon reached a high point in his career around 1970. In 1969 he played in the triangle story The Swimming Pool alongside his ex-girlfriend Romy Schneider. He completed - again as a professional killer - the cast of The Sicilian Clan (1969) and was seen alongside Jean Gabin and Lino Ventura. In 1970 he had Jean-Paul Belmondo , the other French superstar of that era, as a partner in the gangster film Borsalino , which he produced . All of the films were very successful at the box office. In Jean-Pierre Melville's classic crime epic Four in the Red Circle (1970), he was seen as an ex-convict and jewel robber.

1970s

In the 1970s, Delon often made commercially oriented adventure and crime films such as Rivals under the Red Sun (1971), Scorpio, the Killer (1973), Zorro (1975) or Airport '80 - The Concorde (1979). Artistically ambitious films like The Girl and the Murderer - The Assassination of Trotsky (1972) or Monsieur Klein (1976) were praised by the critics, but did not find a large audience. Delon tried his hand at Hollywood movies several times, so Delon regularly resorted to the image of the lone killer. In 1980 he started a song career , among others with the French singer Dalida : While Dalida sang Paroles, Paroles in the duet , he spoke the intermediate part. He delivered an acting performance that was particularly praised by the critics, alongside Jean Gabin as a death row inmate in Endstation Schafott (1973).

Since the 1980s

Alain Delon (2010)

In the 1980s, Delon expanded his cinematic range. He appeared in supporting roles (as Commissioner Foche in the Soviet film Teheran 43 ) and played the gay Baron de Charlus in Volker Schlöndorff's Eine Liebe von Swann (1984). At the same time, he continued to shoot action-oriented films such as The Panther (1985). In 1990 he played the lead role in the multi-layered film Nouvelle Vague, directed by Jean-Luc Godard . He also made his debut as a director in 1981 with the film Save Your Skin, Killer . A year later he directed The Shock , followed by The Fighter from 1983.

In the late 1980s, Delon's films typically met with limited audience interest. He only appeared sporadically as an actor and complained about a lack of good scripts. Therefore, among other things, he remembered singing pop songs and had success as a solo singer in 1987 with the album Comme au cinéma . In 1998 he played alongside Jean-Paul Belmondo in the action comedy Alle Meine Väter , which was never shown in German cinemas. Delon has also worked as a television actor since 2001 and starred in the crime series Fabio Montale (2001) and Frank Riva (2003). He stated several times that he would withdraw from the cinema because he was dissatisfied with the artistic quality of French films. In 2008, however, he was seen in Asterix at the Olympic Games in the role of Julius Caesar .

At the beginning of 2010 he shot the TV film Un mari de trop with the French actress Lorie Pester ! for the French TV broadcaster TF1 .

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Political positions

According to his public statements, Delon's political orientation is right-wing. He described himself as a French patriot who worshiped Napoleon Bonaparte and Charles de Gaulle . According to his own statements, he is also a sympathizer and “personal friend” of the right-wing extremist politician Jean-Marie Le Pen , whose positions he partially shares without ever having given him his vote. He had met Le Pen as a soldier in the Indochina War . In October 2013, Delon expressed his sympathy for Marine Le Pen , the daughter Jean-Marie Le Pens and his successor at the head of the Front National . But Delon also confessed to be a Gaullist and supporter of Nicolas Sarkozy (sarcocyst) , and declared that under his presidency the success of the FN would have been unthinkable; He judges the rise of the FN as a result of the failed policies of Sarkozy's socialist successor in office, François Hollande .

In July 2013, in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper , he said that homosexuality was against nature and that he was against the right of adoption for homosexuals .

literature

  • Fred Linde, Peter Vogel: an irresistible rebel turned 70 . In: Menschen und Medien - magazine for cultural and communication psychology / film and theater . www.menschenundmedien.net

Web links

Commons : Alain Delon  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alain Delon a 80 ans: sa jeunesse méconnue accessed May 29, 2019
  2. ↑ Alain Delon is a confederate. In: Spiegel Online. March 14, 2000, accessed December 9, 2014 .
  3. ↑ Le fils d'Alain Delon inculpé à Genève
  4. ↑ "I'll break up when it suits me" , stern.de
  5. ^ Alain Delon, Palme d'or d'Honneur du 72e Festival de Cannes . Article dated April 17, 2019, accessed April 18, 2019.
  6. ↑ Lifetime Achievement Honor: Golden Palm of Honor for Alain Delon in Cannes . Article dated April 17, 2019, accessed April 18, 2019.
  7. ↑ Alain Delon "approuvé" la poussée du FN
  8. ↑ Michaela Wiegel, Paris: A woman wants to power. In: faz.net. October 14, 2013, accessed December 9, 2014 .
  9. ↑ Alain Delon "approuvé" la poussée du FN
  10. ↑ Alain Delon: Homosexuality is "against nature" At: queer.de of September 2, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Delon, Alain
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French actor
DATE OF BIRTH November 8, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Sceaux , France