Legendary French actor Alain Delon has died at the age of 88. The movie icon, who starred in such films as The Leopard (1963), Le Clan des Siciliens (The Sicilian Clan - 1969) and Rocco and His Brothers (1960), also held Swiss citizenship having lived for many years in Switzerland.
In 2012, Delon was the second person to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Locarno Film Festival in southern Switzerland, which was followed by an honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival seven years later.
The actor, born in Hauts-de-Seine near Paris in 1935, also attracted controversy during his career and was rumoured to have had links with organised crime gangs.
Delon settled in Switzerland in 1985, in a villa in the municipality of Chêne-Bougeries, canton Geneva, according to Swiss public broadcaster SRF. In 1999, the local council voted to grant him nautralised Swiss citizenship, and he took the oath the following year.
In 2019, Delon was treated in a Swiss clinic after suffering a stroke and continued to receive treatment in Switzerland over the last few years as his health further deteriorated.
In January, a French court issued a legal protection order for the ailing Delon amid a dispute among his children over the course of his treatment.
The dispute revolved around the question of whether the actor should spend his retirement in his residence in France or move to Switzerland, where his daughter Anouchka lives – and where inheritance tax is likely to be lower, according to media reports.
Delon “died peacefully in his house in Douchy [France], surrounded by his three children and his family,” according to a statement from his family on Sunday.
SWI swissinfo/mga
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