Monday, November 8, 2010

Happy 75th Birthday Alain Delon

Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon was born on November 8, 1935 in Sceaux, France. Delon’s parents divorced when he was four and both remarried. He attended several schools as a child including a Catholic boarding school but was expelled because of unruly behavior. He left school at fourteen and worked for a time in his father’s butcher shop, before enlisting in the French Navy. He served in the First Indochina War [1953-1954]. Alain was honorably discharged in 1956 and returned to France. He worked at various jobs to earn a living. He became friends with actress Brigitte Auber and accompanied her to the Cannes Film Festival where he met a talent scout for David O. Selznick [1902-1965]. Delon passed a screen test and was offered a film contract if he would learn English. He returned to Paris to study the language but met French director Yves Allégret [1905-1987], who convinced him to stay in France. Delon made his film debut in Allégret’s “Quand la Femme s'en Mêle” and “Faibles Femmes”. Delon made his stage debut in John Ford’s 1961 “Tis Pity She’s a Whore” with Romy Schneider. In 1964 Delon started his own production company Adel. Alain would go on to become one of France’s biggest stars appearing in such films as “Texas Across the River” (1966), “Le Clan des Siciliens” (1969), “Borsalino” (1970), “Scorpio” (1973) “The Concorde... Airport 79" (1979), “Swann in Love” (1983) and many others. He also became a TV and voice actor. Delon appeared in two Euro-westerns “Red Sun” (1971) with Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune and “Zorro” (1975). Today we celebrate Alain Delon’s 75th birthday.

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