Alain Delon

At 88 years old, Alain Delon has this physical status:

In 1956, after his naval service, Delon returned to France, and spent time working as a waiter, a porter, a secretary, and a sales assistant. During this time he became friends with the actress Brigitte Auber, and joined her on a trip to the Cannes Film Festival, where his film career would begin.

At Cannes, Delon was seen by a talent scout for David O. Selznick. After a screen test Selznick offered him a contract, provided he learn English. Delon returned to Paris to study the language, but when he met French director Yves Allégret, he was convinced that he should stay in France to begin his career. Selznick allowed Delon to cancel his contract, and Allégret gave him his debut in the film with Edwige Feuillère, Quand la femme s'en mêle (1957) (Send a Woman When the Devil Fails). Marc Allégret cast him in Be Beautiful But Shut Up (1958), which featured a young Jean-Paul Belmondo. He was then given his first lead, supporting Romy Schneider in the period romance Christine (1958), based on a novel by Arthur Schnitzler. He and Schneider began a highly publicised romance in real life. The film was the seventeenth most popular movie at the French box office that year.

Later career

Teheran 43 (1981) was a change of pace. In this big Soviet production he co-starred with Claude Jade and Curd Jürgens in a co-starring role beside Russian actors. Then it was back to crime: For a Cop's Hide (1981), Le choc (1982), Le Battant (1983). He was awarded the Best Actor César Award for his role in Bertrand Blier's Notre histoire (1984), and portrayed the aristocratic dandy Baron de Charlus in a film adaptation of Marcel Proust's novel Swann in Love in the same year. The thrillers resumed: Parole de flic (1986), The Passage, Let Sleeping Cops Lie (1988), and Dancing Machine (1990). One notable film during this time was Jean-Luc Godard's Nouvelle Vague in 1990, in which Delon played twins. Delon's last major role was in Patrice Leconte's Une chance sur deux in 1998, another box office disappointment. Delon announced his decision to give up acting in 1997, although he still occasionally accepts roles.

Delon acquired Swiss citizenship on 23 September 1999, and the company managing products sold under his name is based in Geneva. He resides in Chêne-Bougeries in the canton of Geneva.

In 2001, Delon starred in the French television drama Fabio Montale. He played an ageing policeman dressed in stylish clothes, a "signature Delon" role for audiences. The show was a big hit. In 2003, Delon tried to recreate the success of Fabio Montale and produced and starred in another French television police drama, Frank Riva. It did well but less so than Fabio Montale. He starred, in 2008, as Jules Cesar in the box-office hit Asterix aux jeux Olympiques which co-starred Gérard Depardieu. Around this time he mostly took roles in TV movies and also played some roles on the French stage. He directed a TV movie himself in 2008 co-starring Anouk Aimee, titled Love Letters based on a play by A.R. Gurney. In 2018, after a seven-year hiatus from cinema, Delon was planning to star in a new movie, titled La Maison Vide, co-starring Juliette Binoche and directed by Patrice Leconte. However, in November 2018 the French media announced that the project was canceled. No specific reason was given for the cancelation. His last roles to date have been in the 2011 television movie Une journée ordinaire, in the 2012 Russian production S Novym godom, Mamy! in which he starred as himself and he again appeared as himself in the 2019 movie Toute Ressemblance as a guest in a talkshow.

In April 2019, at 83, Delon released a new single. The track, titled Je n'aime que toi, was composed by Rick Allison and Julia Paris. Already in 1973 Delon scored a huge international hit duetting with Egyptian-French singer Dalida on the song Paroles...paroles. In 1983 he collaborated with Shirley Bassey on the international hit song Thought I'd ring you.

At the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, which was held from 14 to 25 May, Delon was the recipient of an honorary Palme d'Or for his long standing career in the movies. A retrospective of some of his films played at the festival. There was much controversy surrounding Delon receiving this award because of the presumed remarks he had made concerning the treatment of women during his career and in his private life. Thierry Fremaux, the artistic director of the festival, told the Cannes audience during a homage at the ceremony, "We know that intolerance is back, we're being asked to believe that if we all think the same it will protect us from the risk of being disliked or being wrong, but Alain Delon is not afraid of being wrong, being disliked, and he doesn't think like others, and he's not afraid of being alone". "For me, it's more than the end of a career. It's the end of a life. It feels that I'm receiving a posthumous tribute while being alive," said Delon. He received the award from his daughter Anouchka Delon.

In a July 2021 interview on TV5Monde, his first since having two strokes, Delon said that he plans to act in one more film.Also on TV5Monde, Delon interviewed Ukrainian president Zelenskyy in September 2022 as part of a special programme on the situation in Ukraine, Face à Zelensky. Delon expressed his support for the Ukrainian people during the interview.

Business career

In the 1970s, Delon expanded his commercial interests, buying harness racing trotters and promoting boxing matches. He has also helped develop and promote a variety of products sold under his name including wristwatches, clothing, eyewear, perfume, stationery, and cigarettes. Delon's brand of sunglasses became particularly popular in Hong Kong after actor Chow Yun-fat wore them in the 1986 crime film A Better Tomorrow (as well as two sequels). Delon reportedly wrote a letter thanking Chow for helping to promote and sell the sunglasses in Hong Kong and China. The film's director John Woo has acknowledged Delon as one of his idols and wrote a short essay on Le Samourai as well as Le Cercle Rouge for the Criterion Collection DVD releases. In 2009 and 2015, Christian Dior used images of the young Alain Delon and excerpts of his 1960s films The Swimming Pool and The Last Adventure respectively in the Eau Sauvage cologne advertising campaigns.

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