France pays tribute to late legend Alain Delon

Tributes were sent to Alain Delon by France following his passing at the age of 88 on Monday.

The actor, who had become one of the biggest stars in his country, was honored for his contributions to the film industry. Despite his fame, Delon's life was not without controversy.

In accordance with his wishes, Delon did not want a national memorial service. Instead, he requested to be buried on his estate in Douchy, central France, alongside his beloved dogs.

This final tribute reflects the actor's deep connection to his animals and his desire for a peaceful resting place.

He had already started sounding out the  authorities and had their agreement in principle, local official Christophe Hurault told AFP.

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”.

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 Bardot, 89, told AFP Delon “leaves a huge void that nothing, nobody, can fill”.

Nathalie Baye, who starred with him in the film “Our Story”, said Delon was “not a fun guy” but, she added, “very endearing”.

French President Emmanuel Macron called him a “French monument” who “played legendary roles and made the world dream."

His death was covered by newspapers around the world, with the New York Times, Washington Post and New York Post all publishing lengthy obituaries.

The Washington Post described him as the “angel-faced tough guy of international cinema”, while The Hollywood Reporter said he was the “seductive star of European cinema”.

“Mesmeric and beautiful, Alain Delon was one of cinema’s most mysterious stars,” The Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw wrote.

Germany’s Spiegel called him “Europe’s James Dean”, while Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the “aura of the handsome angel of death made him a legend”.

In Italy, where he spent much of his career, Il Corriere della Sera said that “there will never be another actor like Delon, unique and immortal”.

“For me, he was a legend,” 26-year-old moviegoer Victor Roussel told AFP before a showing of his 1963 film “The Leopard” at a Paris cinema Sunday.