Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon was born in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, France, to Édith (Arnold) and Fabien Delon. His father had French and Corsican Italian ancestry, while his mother had French and German heritage. Delon's parents divorced early in his childhood, and he had a tumultuous upbringing, frequently being expelled from school.
In 1953/1954, Delon served in the French Marines in Indochina. Following his military service, he worked various odd jobs, including waiting tables, sales, and porter work in Les Halles market. He then decided to pursue an acting career, making his film debut in Yves Allégret's Quand la femme s'en mêle (1957).
Delon declined a contract offer from producer David O. Selznick and instead received international recognition for his role in Luchino Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers (1960). He also appeared on stage in "'Tis a Pity She's a Whore," directed by Visconti, in Paris.
In 1964, Delon founded his own production company, Delbeau Productions, and produced a short film directed by Guy Gilles. He then formed another company, Adel Film, and began producing features. In 1981, he directed his first film, To Kill a Cop (1981).
Delon was a sensation in his early career, embodying the young, energetic, and often morally corrupted man. With his breathtaking good looks, he was destined to play tender lovers and romantic heroes, becoming a French embodiment of the type created in America by James Dean.
His first outstanding success came with the role of the parasite Tom Ripley in Rene Clement's sun-drenched thriller Purple Noon (1960). Delon presented a psychological portrait of a murderous young cynic who attempts to take on the identity of his victim. A totally different role was offered to him by Visconti in Rocco and His Brothers (1960),in which Delon plays the devoted Rocco, who accepts the greatest sacrifices to save his shiftless brother Simon.
After several other films in Italy, Delon returned to the criminal genre with Jean Gabin in Any Number Can Win (1963). This work, a classic example of the genre, was distinguished not only by a soundly worked-out screenplay but also by the careful production and the excellent performances of both Delon and Gabin.
It was only in the late 1960s that the sleek and lethal Delon came to epitomize the calm, psychopathic hoodlum, staring into the camera like a cat assessing a mouse. His tough, ruthless side was first used to great effect by Jean-Pierre Melville in Le Samouraï (1967). In 1970, he had a huge success in the bloodstained Borsalino (1970),which he also produced, playing a small-time gangster in the 1930s who, with Jean-Paul Belmondo, becomes king of the Marseilles underworld.
Delon later won critical acclaim for his roles, against type, in Joseph Losey's Mr. Klein (1976),in which he played (brilliantly) the icily sinister title role, and the art-movie Swann in Love (1984). He has an older son, Anthony Delon, from his first marriage to Nathalie Delon, and has a young son and daughter, Alain-Fabien and Anouchka, with Rosalie.
