French screen legend Alain Delon suffers a stroke at the age of 83, his son reveals

French screen legend Alain Delon suffers a stroke at the age of 83, his son reveals

  • Alain Delon is ‘resting’ in Switzerland after a stroke a few weeks ago, his son said
  • His son Anthony Delon said his condition was ‘stabilised’, according to medics
  • The French-born Swiss national has starred in European cinema for six decades

Legendary French actor Alain Delon, 83, suffered a stroke a few weeks ago and is currently ‘resting’ in Switzerland, his son revealed yesterday.

Anthony Delon said his father’s vital functions were ‘perfect and his condition stabilised, according to doctors’. 

The veteran performer, known for his roles in films such as ‘The Swimming Pool’ and ‘Purple Noon’, has spent over 60 years working in European cinema. 

Veteran French actor Alain Delon (pictured in a 1960 portrait) has suffered a stroke and is recovering in Switzerland, his family has revealed 

He received an honorary Palme d’Or award at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival in May.

At the time, Cannes film bosses referred to the 83-year-old actor as a ‘giant, a living legend and a global icon’. 

‘More than 80 films, countless masterpieces and superlatives are testament to the artistic reach and international aura of a man,’ they said. 

‘He quickly shook off the guise of the dashing young hero, focusing on complex, ambivalent and tragic, fragile yet coarse characters and shaping the role of police officers and cold-blooded animals.’  

His son said Delon was operated on at a hospital in Paris, where he stayed three weeks in intensive care.

Alain Delon posing as he arrives to be awarded with an Honorary Palme d'Or in Cannes in May this year

Alain Delon starring in 'Purple Noon' in 1960

Alain Delon, pictured left earlier this year, is known for his roles in films such as ‘The Swimming Pool’ and ‘Purple Noon’ (in which he is pictured right)

‘The whole family took turns at his bedside, my brother, my sister and my mother Nathalie,’ Anthony Delon said.

He added that his father ‘went back to Switzerland and is resting quietly in a clinic’. 

‘My sister who now resides in Switzerland, is following his recovery closely and keeps us informed of his daily progress,’ his son said.

In recent weeks, several celebrity magazines had claimed that the actor had suffered a stroke.

In mid-June, Alain Delon’s professional team said the actor had been admitted to a hospital in Paris ‘for vertigo and minor headaches’.

‘Symptoms likely due to a cardiac arrhythmia suffered by the actor,’ the same source said.

Delon received an honorary Palme d'Or award at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival this year (he is pictured there in May)

Delon received an honorary Palme d’Or award at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival this year (he is pictured there in May)

The actor, who was born in France in 1935, took up Swiss citizenship in 1999.

He has had a string of high-profile relationships, initially with Romy Schneider, his co-star in the 1958 film Christine. 

In 1964 he married his wife Nathalie, the mother of Anthony Delon, but they had separated by 1969. 

After that he had a 15-year relationship with actress Mireille Darc, who was a fixture on French screens in the 1960s and 1970s.

He has two younger children, Anouchka and Alain-Fabien, with Dutch model Rosalie van Breemen.  

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