Alain Delon, angel-faced tough guy of international cinema, dies at 88

His best roles, including the murderous Tom Ripley in “Purple Noon,” pitted his luminous beauty against his characters’ often dark souls.


Alain Delon in 1976. (-/AFP via Getty Images)

By Adam Bernstein
August 18, 2024 at 6:40 a.m. EDT

Alain Delon, a French actor who achieved international stardom in roles that pitted his luminous beauty against his characters’ dark souls, has died at 88.

In a statement to Agence France-Presse, his family said he died at his home in Douchy, in north-central France. No other details were immediately available. He had been in poor health since a stroke in 2019.

Mr. Delon, who vaulted to fame with his performance as the murderous opportunist Tom Ripley in “Purple Noon” (1960), was sometimes called “the male Brigitte Bardot” for his smoldering good looks. Like his Gallic female counterpart, he never found an English role that fully captured his seductive power, but he nonetheless had an ardent global following. He became one of the most photographed men in the world, an unavoidable object of desire for decades.

His charming smile, classically handsome features, prizefighter’s sinewy build, electric blue eyes, dark bouffant hair, arched eyebrows and seductively unbuttoned shirts against his bronzed skin gave him an aura of rakish sexuality. He had an unnerving presence — almost feminine prettiness and tough-guy masculinity, angel as devil.

{snip}


French movie stars Simone Signoret (left) and Mr. Delon in 1960. (Umberto Salvemini/AP)

{snip}

By Adam Bernstein
Adam Bernstein has spent his career putting the "post" in The Washington Post, first as an obituary writer and then as editor. The American Society of Newspaper Editors recognized Bernstein’s ability to exhume “the small details and anecdotes that get at the essence of the person.” He joined The Post in 1999. Twitter