"The Sacred Monster": Why Alain Delon has earned the fame of a capricious and selfish heartthrob

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

As soon as this actor was not called in the press: “not an angel of pure beauty,” “a lone wolf,” “heartless Casanova,” etc. However, for the French, he became a real national symbol and a source of pride, and therefore even those who consider him monster, add that for their country this monster has become sacred. With what Alain Delon earned such a controversial reputation?

Jean Cocteau once called all actors sacred monsters, but most often this description was used in the press in relation to Alain Delon. Indeed, from a young age he was not distinguished by a gentle disposition. His parents divorced and started other families when he was 2 years old, and neither mother nor father paid due attention to raising their son. He changed more than one school, from where he was constantly expelled "for unbearable behavior and systematic hooliganism." Since her son's studies did not work out, his mother decided to direct him in the footsteps of his stepfather and teach him the profession of a butcher. For a time he worked in a sausage shop in Paris.

At the age of 17, Alain decided to become a test pilot, but admission to the flight school was already over at that time, and he entered the service in the French army, and then ended up in the war in Indochina. He recalled this experience with a shudder: "".

After demobilization, Alain Delon tried to work as a waiter, but with his explosive nature, this could not last for a long time - this profession seemed to him a lackey, and he could not fulfill someone's orders and please someone for a long time. Someone advised the young man to use his spectacular appearance and send the photographs to film producers, which he did. So Alain Delon first got on the set, after which he firmly decided that he should only do the acting profession.

In the 1960s. the French actor was talked about all over the world. In 1965, Delon went to Hollywood, but his paintings did not enjoy much success in America. But in Europe, incredible popularity awaited him. In the very first film reviews, critics wrote that it combines the "soul of the devil" and "the face of an angel." This duality also attracted numerous women, whose attention he was never deprived of. He was immediately dubbed a sex symbol, although not everyone succumbed to his charm. So, Brigitte Bardot in her memoirs called Delon "".

When the actor was asked to describe his life in one sentence, he said: "". Although the women with whom fate faced him still had to suffer more. Alain Delon broke more than one woman's heart, and for some chosen ones, relations with him were a real disaster. Once on the set, he met the then-famous actress Romy Schneider, and feelings flared up between them. They spent 6 years together, they were called the most beautiful acting couple, but as a result, Delon left his chosen one for another woman. And Romy Schneider never managed to find happiness in other ways. Later she wrote about him: "".

Actress Niko in 1962 gave birth to his son, but this did not become the key to a long relationship. The actor left her and married model and photographer Natalie Barthélemy. She said that Delon had an explosive character and confessed: "". The couple had a son, but after 5 years this marriage also broke up. His civil marriage with actress Mireille Dark lasted the longest - they remained together for 15 years, despite the fact that Alain Delon did not remain faithful to his wife.

Probably the only woman who left the actor herself was his last common-law wife, a young fashion model Rosalie van Bremen. At the moment when the incorrigible heartthrob finally decided to devote himself to the family and raising their two children, the girl broke his heart and, after 10 years of marriage, left him for another man.

Since then, Alain Delon is officially considered a bachelor. He recently celebrated his 82nd birthday, admitting that over the past decades he has constantly suffered from loneliness and from the fact that none of his fans see him, and not a screen image. In an interview, the famous sex symbol of French cinema, which thousands of women around the world dream of, admitted: "".

The actor had a difficult relationship not only with women: The scandalous story of the confrontation between Delon and Belmondo.