Alain Delon

French actor, director and producer, an internationally known star from the '60s and at one time, the highest paid actor in France. His European films include "The Leopard," "Is Paris Burning" and "Red Sun." The magnetic Alain Delon was among the most prominent French actors of the postwar era; an exotically handsome performer. With his breathtaking good-looks, he played tender lovers and romantic heroes, and he was in the beginning a French embodiment of the type created in America by James Dean. He later became sleek and lethal, epitomizing the calm, psychopathic hoodlum, staring into the camera like a cat assessing a mouse. In his 40 year career as an actor, Delon made over 80 motion pictures. He made an American debut as head pilot of the Concorde in "Airport '79" but never made the impact in the U.S. that he had in France. The product of a broken home, Delon had a stormy childhood. His parents divorced when the boy was only four years old. He was farmed out to foster parents who lived across from a French prison. The prison yard became his playground and the children of the guards were his friends. His mother remarried and had a daughter. When Delon's foster parents were killed unexpectedly he moved back in with his birth mother, then to a series of boarding schools from which he was frequently expelled. He quit school at 15. Work in his step-dad’s butcher shop was unappealing and at 17 he joined the marines, serving as a parachutist in Indo-China. In 1954 he fought in the infamous battle of Dien Bein Phu. Upon his discharge in 1956, Delon returned to Marseilles where he worked at various odd jobs including waiter, salesman, and porter in Les Halles market. During this time he became familiar with the French criminal underground. He also met some of the young actors of the day and with his friend, aspiring actor Jean-Claude Brialy, he attended the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. There, Delon was "discovered." His delicate good looks won him a number of movie offers. Delon made his film debut that same year in Yves Allegret's "Quand la Femmes S'en Mele" (When the Woman Gets Confused). Within three years he had international recognition and his stardom rocketed upward. Delon married the beautiful Nathalie (Francine) Canovas on 8/13/1964. That same year he also started his first film production company called Delbeau Productions. His first marriage produced a son , Anthony. They divorced amiably on 8/25/1968 and later filmed together. In 1990 he married Dutch model Rosalie Van Breemen and their daughter (Anuchka) was born. In 1994, they had a second child, Alain-Fabien. For five years, Delon was engaged to popular actress Romy Schneider. He had an affair with musician-model-actress Nico and fathered their child, Christian (Ari) in 1965. In the late ‘60's he formed the film company, Adel Film, and in 1970, began producing feature films, though it was not until 1981 that he added Director to his credit. In 1969 Delon and his wife Rosalie found themselves at the center of a massive scandal when his bodyguard and friend, Stefan Markovic, was found shot to death, his body left in a garbage dump. The subsequent investigation into the murder threatened to implicate many of France's most prominent celebrities and politicians in a sordid web of murder, drugs and sex. He was eventually cleared of all charges. Many thought that it would irrevocably harm his career, but Delon emerged with a deeper and darker dimension, especially after a TV interview in which he referred to steamy adventures that included homosexual liaisons. His work began to focus on gangster films, all huge successes with European audiences. The youth who had come from nothing had become a very successful and wealthy man. He seemed a natural for business and produced many quality brand name products with his signature "AD" logo on them. He also became the owner of his own airline. Besides business, Delon invested a lot of money into his two passions, an art collection said to be amazing, and breeding race horses. In 1987, Delon met Dutch model Rosalie van Breemen on the shooting of the video clip for his song "Comme au cinéma" and started a relationship. They had two children: Anouschka (25 November 1990) and Alain-Fabien (18 March 1994). The relationship ended in October 2002. Alain Delon lives in Chêne-Bougeries in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland with his two youngest children. He takes care of hundreds of stray dogs which have been abandoned or abused by their owners. In 1997 Alain Delon was given Germany's prestigious Golden Camera Award for his life's work in cinema. Afterward he proclaimed that he was retiring from the cinema. Link to Wikipedia biography