As tributes for film legend Alain Delon poured in from around the globe following his death at 88, France was preparing on Monday its farewell to one of its greatest stars. No national tribute has been planned, as Delon had made it clear he did not want one. He said he wanted to be buried near his dogs on his property in Douchy in central France where he died.
He had already started sounding out the local authorities there, Christophe Hurault, the sub-prefect of Loiret, told AFP. The prefecture “had given its agreement in principle”. His three children, Anthony, Anouchka and Alain-Fabien, having squabbled bitterly for months over his medical treatment, spoke in a unified voice Sunday when they announced their father’s death.
Now they have to manage the funeral of the screen icon, deciding whether to limit it to close family or extend it to the cinema world. Delon, naturally, dominated the front pages of France’s newspapers Monday, many of them featuring full-page portraits of the actor in his prime. “The Last Samurai”, wrote Le Figaro for its front-page headline, a reference to one of his most famous roles, as the enigmatic assassin in Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 thriller “Le Samourai”.
– End of an era – Delon’s performances in some of the greatest films of the 1960s and 70s were widely praised, his charisma on screen impossible to ignore. He was one of the last living legends of a golden era for French cinema in the 1960s. Fellow 60s star Brigitte Bar.