Alain Delon

Alain Delon is a famous French Actor, producer and composer, made famous for his rough, gangster like roles in movies throughout the 60’s and 70’s. Some of the movies he is best known for include ‘Plein Soleil’ (1960), ‘Rocco and His Brother’ (1960), ‘The Leopard’ (1963), ‘Once a Thief’ (1965), ‘Le Samourai’ (1967), ‘Red Sun’ (1971), ‘Zorro’ (1975), and ‘Le Gang’ (1977).

Born on November 8th, 1935 in Sceaux, France, Alain was something of a troublemaker as a child. His parents were divorced when he was very young, and he was expelled from several of the schools he attended. At the age of 17 he joined a paratrooper division of the French Marines and served in French Indochina in the early 1950s. Upon returning to France in the mid 50s, he worked a series of odd jobs before landing a part in the 1957 production, ‘Quand le Femmes S’en Mele’. It was not a major role, but it launched what would become a major career in acting.

Alain’s first leading role would come in the 1958 movie ‘Christine’, though the lead that is considered by most to be his ‘breakout’ part came in the 1960 movie ‘Plein Soleil’. ‘Plein Soleil’ was a hit worldwide, bringing the young French actor an international celebrity status. In the movie he played an American psychopath and murderer, beginning a trend toward darker, tougher roles that would follow him throughout his career. Throughout the early 60’s, Delon stared in several more movies, mostly in roles that kept up his good-looking bad guy image. He was often thought of as the French counterpart to America’s James Dean.

Delon’s first major Hollywood production came in 1965 with ‘Once a Thief’. He filmed several other movies in America, including ‘The Lost Command’, ‘Texas Across the River’, and ‘Yellow Rolls-Royce’ before returning to France.

Delon continued to star in French movies back in his home country for many years to come. In 1969 he was caught up in a scandal when his friend and bodyguard was found in a dumpster, shot to death. The investigation that followed seemed to point to a web of murders, drugs, sex and deceit that involved many of France’s celebrities and politicians, and many thought that Delon would be finished in the movie industry. However, the incident only seemed to add to his fame, reinforcing his tough guy, gangster image, and his career did not falter.

Through the 80’s and 90’s, Delon was in a number of box office failures, and in 1997 announced that he would no longer act. Today, Alain Delon lives with his wife Natalie in France.