Nathalie Delon, a French cinema legend, dies at 79

Nathalie Delon has passed away in Paris at the age of 79. The cause of death was a cancer with a fulminating effect. All of a sudden, her health quickly deteriorated and caused her to pass away.

Delon was an actress known especially from the masterpiece of French cinema ‘The Samurai’ (‘Le Samouraï’). It was a film where she met one of the great loves of her life.

When she married Alain Delon, the actress adopted his surname. Originally, though, she was called Francine Canovas. The actress was born in Morocco. Her father was an Algerian pied-noir and her mother was born in Melilla, a Spanish territory on the Moroccan coast.

Nathalie and Alain Delon had a son: the famous Anthony, born in 1964. On his Instagram profile, Anthony Delon has said goodbye with a brief (but touching) text that reads “RIP Maman. Rest in Peace. Nathalie Delon 1941-2021.”

In 1969 Nathalie divorced Alain Delon, because he had started an affair with the actress Mireille Darc. She kept his surname, though, with the approval of Alain Delon with whom she had very good relations throughout her life.

In Nathalie Delon’s filmography there are titles by such renowned directors as Edward Dmitryck, Roger Vadim or Joseph Losey. In 1972, Delon played one of the leading roles with Franco Nero in ‘The Monk’ (‘Le Moine’), a curious horror film scripted by Luis Buñuel.

Nathalie Delon also directed two films: ‘They Call it an Accident’ (‘Ils Appellent ça un Accident’) and ‘Sweet Lies’. They were released in 1982 and 1987 respectively.

In 1973, Nathalie Delon participated in ‘Profession: Aventuriers.’ It’s an example of much of the work by Delon: she was an actress who often made entertaining movies with few major pretensions: horror, action, etc.

The work for which Nathalie Delon will be remembered most is that of Jeanne Lagrange in ‘Le Samouraï’ (‘The Samurai’), Jean-Pierre Melville’s iconic film with long, meaningful silences. Farewell to a great actress.