Alain Delon mini-bio: The product of a broken home, Alain Delon had a stormy childhood. He
was frequently expelled from school.
During the early 50s - parachutist with French Marines in Indochina; mid-50s
- worked at various odd jobs including, waiter, salesman, and porter in Les
Halles market; 1957 - film debut in Yves Allégret's Quand la femmes s'en
mele; declined contract with Selznick studios; 1960 - received international
recognition for his role in Visconti's Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960); 1961
- stage role in Tis Pity She's a Whore, directed by Visconti, Paris; 1964 -
formed film company Delbeau Productions; produced short film directed by Guy
Gilles; 1968 - involved in murder, drug, sex scandal that indirectly
implicated major politicians and show business personalities, eventually
cleared of all charges; late 60s - formed film company Adel Film; 1970 -
began producing feature films; 1981 - directed film Pour la peau d'un flic.
Without previous professional preparation, Alain Delon came to embody the
young, energetic, often morally corrupted man. With his breathtaking
good-looks, he was also predestined to play tender lovers and romantic
heroes, and he was in the beginning a French embodiment of the type created
in America by James Dean. His first outstanding success came with the role
of the parasite Tom Ripley in Clement's sun-drenched thriller Plein soleil
(1960). Delon presented a psychological portrait of a murderous young cynic
who attempts to take on the identity of his victim. A totally different role
was offered to him by Visconti in "Rocco e i suoi fratelli". In this film,
Delon plays the devoted Rocco, who accepts the greatest sacrifices to save
his characterless brot her Simon. After several other films in Italy, he
returned to the criminal genre with Jean Gabin in Mélodie en sous-sol
(1963). This work, a classic example of the genre, was distinguished not
only by a soundly worked-out screenplay, but also by the careful producti on
and the excellent performances of both Delon and Gabin. It was only in the
late sixties that the sleek and lethal Delon came to epitomise the calm,
psychopathic hoodlum, staring into the camera like a cat assessing a mouse.
His tough, ruthless side was first used to real effect by Jean-Pierre
Melville in Samouraï, Le (1967). In 1969, he had a huge success in the
bloodstained Borsalino, which he also produced, playing a small-time
gangster who, with Jean-Paul Belmondo becomes king of the Marseilles
thirties underwo rld. Delon later won critical acclaim for his roles,
against type, in Joseph Losey's Monsieur Klein (1976) in which Delon played
(brilliantly) the icily sinister title role, and the art-movie Un amour de
Swann (1984). He has an older son Anthony Delon (who has also acted in a
number of movies) from his first marriage to Nathalie Delon, and has a young
son and daughter, Alain-Fabien and Anouchka with Rosalie.