French Pres. Emmanuel Macron Leads Tributes To Alain Delon – “More Than A Star, A Monument”

France’s president Emanuel Macron has led tributes to titan of French cinema Alain Delon following his death aged 88. 

Macron posted on X:

“Mr. Klein or Rocco, the Leopard or the Samurai, Alain Delon has played legendary roles and made the world dream. Lending his unforgettable face to shake up our lives.

Melancholic, popular, secretive, he was more than a star: a French monument.”

The country’s culture minister Rachida Dati wrote: 

“We believe he was immortal … his talent, his charisma, his aura made him destined for a Hollywood career at a young age, but he chose France.”

Other leading French figures joined in paying tribute to Delon, who appeared in a string of classic French films in a career lasting more half a century. 

France’s former culture minister Jack Lang called Delon “an acting giant, prodigious … a prince of the cinema.

“He was extremely modest, reserved, restrained, shy at the same time; even if he did express himself brutally from time to time, he did it with a flourish.”

Éric Ciotti, of Les Républicains, wrote that Delon was a star apart: “France mourns a sacred giant who existed in the daily lives of French people across the generations and who will continue to thrill us for a long time to come.”

French writer and film director Philippe Labro wrote: “Goodbye friend. A wonderful collection of films, an incredible and fascinating personality. Beauty is not enough to explain the exceptional evolution of his talent. He was the ultimate star. The Samurai.”