Film legend Alain Delon was buried on Saturday in a private funeral attended by his children, relatives and close friends as fans mourned outside the gates of his country estate where he was laid to rest near his beloved dogs. The 88-year-old star of such classics as "Le Samourai" and "Purple Noon", who was once described as "Europe's James Dean", died on Sunday. French police had set up roadblocks near the manor in the village of Douchy, with the airspace overhead also closed for the entire weekend.
The 50 or so mourners allowed into the estate's private chapel had to leave their mobile phones at the door to ensure strict privacy. Veteran Italian actress Claudia Cardinale, 86, who starred opposite Delon in "The Leopard", was "too sad" to come, her agent told AFP. "They ask me to put into words (the grief)," she said after his death, "but the sadness is too intense".
But Rosalie van Breemen, Delon's ex-wife and mother of his children Anouchka and Alain-Fabien, was present, sources close to proceedings told AFP. Fans had left countless floral tributes and cards at the manor gates all week, with around a hundred people gathered there on Saturday to say goodbye. "I wanted to pay him homage, even from behind the gates, on the day of the funeral, as a symbolic gesture," Marie-Christine Guibert, a neighbour, told AFP.
"I really had to be here," said Maxime Ducharme, 28. "I inherited a passion for Delon from my parents." Delon's three children -- who were with him when he died -- to.