Famed in Italy for his work with Luchino Visconti and Michelangelo Antonioni, Alain Delon enjoyed international renown in many other countries too, where his films were revered. As soon as his death was announced on Sunday, August 18, tributes poured in from the media, starting in Japan. Many, like the daily newspaper Yomiuri, labelled him a nimaime – a kabuki theater term designating “the handsome, seductive man with gentle gestures and words.” The paper Mainichi meanwhile published a portfolio entitled “The journey of the most handsome man,” showing the actor on his frequent trips to Japan.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Delon’s popularity in Japan was enormous. Surpassing that of Hollywood stars, he appeared in numerous advertisements, such as the one for clothing manufacturer D’Urban. Its slogan, spoken in French by Delon: “D’Urban, c’est l’élégance de l’homme moderne” (“D’Urban, it’s the elegance of the modern man”).
In the United States, despite the fact that the actor did not carve out a Hollywood career, the press was still full of praise for his memory: an “intense and intensely handsome” man, an “international star” courted by the greatest filmmakers of his time, wrote the New York Times, while the New Yorker magazine elevated the French actor to the rank of “was the most beautiful man in the history of the movies.”
Delon’s estate
In Switzerland, a country of which Delon had been a citizen since 1999 and where he made regular visits, Le Temps saluted the “last great myth of French cinema,” while also recounting the wasted second half of his career. The newspaper also tackled the question of what he leaves behind: “And it’s no mean feat, with an inheritance worth tens of millions of euros in real estate, works of art, film royalties, clothing, eyewear and perfume brands.”
The Romanian press described the career of a man considered a pinnacle of world cinema, an emblem of a generation of actors who enchanted their lives. “Farewell Alain Delon and hats off to him!” wrote the newspaper Cotidianul, adding: “You can count on our gratitude.”
“Alain Delon remains a role model,” said former prime minister Nicolae Ciucă. “He was never one of those junk actors who ask you to give them a like and a subscribe on social media. His films allowed me to escape from Communism.” French cinema provided a breath of fresh air during the years of dictatorship in the country.
Complex relations with Russia
The French-language Lebanese daily L’Orient-Le Jour – which devoted a long article to “one of the last legends of French cinema” – recalled Delon’s 1980 trip to Lebanon with actress Mireille Darc (1938-2017) in the midst of the civil war, to sell his perfumes.
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