French actor Alain Delon, one of the most memorable screen icons of the ’60s and ’70s, died on Sunday at the age of 88. Though he fell into his career through a couple of actress girlfriends who encouraged him to pursue film acting, with his blazing blue eyes and good looks, it was clear that Alain Delon’s face always belonged on screen.
Even as his career took off, his personal life sometimes memorably intersected with his roles, making him a celebrity and media darling, but on the silver screen, Delon was undeniably mesmerizing. Take the time to remember his life and work with a selection of his best films available on streaming.
While Delon’s breakout role was in the 1959 French comedy “Women are Weak,” which was a big hit in France and the first of his films that was seen in the United States, it was the 1960 film “Purple Noon” (or “Plein Soleil” in France) that defined him as an international superstar. In this adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” Delon plays the shapeshifting conman Tom Ripley, sent to Italy to retrieve Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet), a handsome trust fund baby whiling away his time with his fiancee Marge (Marie Laforet) and Freddy (Bill Kearns). It’s impossible to take your eyes off Delon in this sun-drenched noir. Stream it on the Criterion Channel or Kanopy.
Also in 1960, he starred in “Rocco and His Brothers,” the first of two films he would make with Luchino Visconti. Delon stars as Rocco, who moves with his family from Southern Italy to Milan in the wake of his father’s death, where they attempt to make their way in the world. He and his brother both enter into the world of boxing as a way to obtain money and fame, and they have a falling-out over a woman. Stream it on the Criterion Channel and Kanopy.
