French cinema icon, actor Alain Delon, has passed away at the age of 88, his three children announced in a joint statement on Sunday. “Alain Fabien, Anouchka, Anthony, as well as (his dog) Loubo, have the immense sadness to announce the departure of their father. He passed away peacefully in his home in Douchy, surrounded by his three children and his family (…) His family asks you to respect his privacy, in this extremely painful moment of mourning,” they shared.
Since then, tributes have been pouring in, starting with those from several political figures including the President of the Republic: “Melancholic, popular, secretive, he was more than a star: a French monument,” declared Emmanuel Macron.
The resigning Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, also spoke out on her X account, sharing her “warm thoughts” with the children of the French cinema star, saddened by the loss of a “dear friend, who meant a lot”. “His talent, his charisma, his aura designated him at a very young age to make a career in Hollywood, but it was France that he chose. If he always remained faithful to auteur cinema, he never feared other roles”, she stressed.
“Farewell dear Alain!” wrote the president of the Île-de-France region and member of LR, Valérie Pécresse, on X.
The party leader, Éric Ciotti, describes a star who “was of the race of lords”, “the French Man with a capital H”. “France mourns a sacred monster who inhabited the daily life of the French across generations and will continue to thrill us for a long time to come”, he adds, continuing: “a sincere patriot and a man of the right, Alain Delon always defended a certain idea of France”.
“Alain Delon leaves us orphaned from the golden age of French cinema that he embodied so well,” lamented the president of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen, mentioning that it is “a small part of the France that we love that is leaving with him.”
Former Minister of Culture Jack Lang also paid tribute on France Info to the actor’s “kindness” and their “bond of friendship” for “about twenty years”. Alongside his wife, the former member of François Mitterrand’s government had “a tenderness for him, we knew the pain he was going through”, he declared, “beyond the immense, prodigious actor, (…) this prince of cinema”.
The resigning Minister of the Economy thanks the actor “for this immense life in cinema” on his X account.
A similar tribute was paid by the resigning minister responsible for equality between women and men, who praised “her beauty, her gaze, her voice, her elegance, her style, her freedom.”
Also invited on France Info, photographer Jean-Marie Périer says he is “completely shocked” by the news of the actor’s death. “I am very sad,” he says, very moved, paying tribute to a star who “did not take the easy way out.”
Actress Véronique Jannot, who starred alongside Alain Delon in Pierre Granier-Deferre’s film “Le Toubib”, also shared her “sadness” on BFMTV after the legendary actor’s death. “He was my God,” she said.
Brigitte Bardot, a close friend of the actor, also told AFP that Alain Delon’s death leaves “an abysmal void that nothing and no one can fill.” Her animal protection foundation had already said it was “devastated by his passing” a few hours earlier.
“He was inhabited by grace. The ultimate star,” praised writer and director Philippe Labro, describing the actor as an “incredible and fascinating personality.”
On Instagram, Paul Belmondo, son of Jean-Paul Belmondo, recalls: “Alain, one day, you told me that you missed my father. Today, it is you who will be greatly missed.”
The Cinémathèque française pays tribute to the legendary actor, who always claimed to live his roles and not play them. “An actor is an accident. I am an accident. My life is an accident. My career is an accident,” the cinema legend had declared.
The National Centre for Cinema (CNC) similarly shared a tribute looking back on his career, following the actor’s death, on the social network Instagram: “An incandescent charm, an insolent talent, an unequalled international career”, recalling how the icon “made the whole world dream”. Olivier Henrard, general director of the CNC and interim president declared that “his admirable career, marked by the intensity of his acting and his absolute charisma have made him one of the unforgettable legends of the seventh art”.
“A part of the history of French cinema that he brings with him”
“We expected it, but when it happens, the grief is always there,” reacted the director of the Cannes Film Festival, Thierry Frémaux, on France Info. When he was awarded an honorary Palme d’honneur in 2019, “we wanted to do something special for him,” he recalls.
He describes more broadly a “rather multifaceted career”. Just like his “cinema brother Jean-Paul Belmondo”, “it is a part of the history of French cinema that he brings and which he will allow us to remember”.