When the legendary French actor died this year in August aged 88, French President Emmanuel Macron had remarked that “he was more than a star: he was a French monument“…
(Photo above and quote: bbc.com)

Delon was one of the most admired actors of the French and the world cinema especially in 1960s and 70s, when he was on screen either as a tough-guy in hits like “The Samurai” (starred with Nathalie Delon, his wife then) and “Borsalino” (starred with Jean-Paul Belmondo), or as a beautiful man in “The Leopard” and “Rocco and his Brothers” – Visconti’s masterpieces.

French actor Alain Delon with Claudia Cardinale in “The Leopard“, directed by Luchino Visconti, which won the Palme d’Or award in 1963 Cannes Film Festival (Photo: imdb.com)
(The film (with the famous ball scene danced by Claudia Cardinale and Burt Lanchester) , which I had mentioned in my older post titled “Sicily – Inspired by a Marvelous Coffee” is set in Palermo, Sicily, portraying the Bourbon aristocracy and social changes during the Italian unification. Click “The Leopard (1963) Trailer” for the sense of the film – a masterpiece)

Alain Delon having lunch with Visconti and Claudia Cardinale in Palermo, in August 1962 during the filming of the movie “Leopard” (Photo by Patrice Habans/Paris Match via Getty Images)

Alain Delon was recently in the headlines with the news about the breakdown of his family and disagreements over his medical treatment, following his stroke in 2019. He died in his home and retreat in Douchy, France, surrounded by his three children – Anthony (by French model and actress Nathalie Barthélémy), Alain-Fabien and Anouchka Delon (by Dutch model Rosalie van Breemen), and his dog Lobo. (bcc.com)

Alain, Nathalie and Anthony Delon in Monte-Carlo, summer 1965 (Photo: Paris Match via Facebook) / Delon walking along his estate’s lake in Douchy with his partner Rosalie van Breemen, their children, Anouchka and Alain-Fabien, and the dogs, 1997 (Photo: Michel Marizy, parismatch.com)

I remember seeing Alain Delon in the cover of Paris Match with Jean-Paul Belmondo, in May 2019 for the 70th anniversary of Paris Match – a get-together in Cannes during the festival, which seemed to me so jolly and emotional…

Alain Delon with Jean-Paul Belmondo, another great French actor who died in 2021 also aged 88, on the cover of and in the magazine Paris Match, 2019 (Photos: Vlada Krassiknikova / Paris Match) (Delon had murmured “He’s my big brother,” after the photoshoot. (parismatch.com))

Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo in Cannes during the festival , May 29, 2019 (parismatch.com) / Delon received an honorary Palme d’or at 2019 Cannes Film Festival – said to be his last major public appearance (Getty Images via bbc.com)

Alain Delon with his daughter Anouchka and Italian actress Claudia Cardinale at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2010. They arrive for the screening of the film “The Leopard” (Il Gattopardpo / Le Guepard) presented during a special screening at the festival. (Photo: FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP via Getty Images)

Alain Delon and his partner actress Anne Parillaud in Paris, 1982 (Getty Images via msn.com) / Delon with his partner the late actress Mireille Darc on the set of “Man in a Hurry” in Venice, April 1977 (Photo: Benjamin Auger, parismatch.com)

Delon and Claudia Cardinale paying tribute to Luchino Visconti in front of the poster for the film ‘The Leopard‘ in 2000 (purepeople.com) / Alain Delon with his close friend and co-star Brigitte Bardot (Shutterstock via bcc.com)

In the years when he was a world-wide star, Delon was being talked about with his colorful personal life and controversial relationship with many women. His first love though was Romy Schneider, known as “Sissi“, the nickname of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, as well as the name of the trilogy she starred in, beloved by many.

Romy Schneider as Sissi in the series “Sissi” (Photo: spotern.com)

It was the film “Christine” (1958) that brought Alain Delon and Romy Schneider together, which Delon had recalled years later:
“You were arriving from Vienna and I was waiting for you at the Paris airport  with a bouquet of flowers… You got off the airplane, … You said to your mother, ‘That must be Alain Delon, my partner!’ … So I went to Vienna, where the film was being shot, and it was there that I fell madly in love with you. And you fell in love with me.“ (vogue.com)

After the filming of “Christine” Romy Schneider moved with Delon to Paris and they started living together.

Alain Delon with his fiancee, Austrian/German actress Romy Schneider at Lake Lugano, Italy, March 25, 1959. The couple have just announced their engagement and are staying at a villa owned by Schneider’s father. (Photo: Keystone Features/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (Romy Schneider’s father was the Austrian actor Wolf Albach-Retty and her mother was the German actress Magda Schneider.)

Fans were waiting for the marriage, but Delon left Schneider in 1963 for Nathalie, with whom he got married and had a son (Anthony Delon) the same year. Delon later left Nathalie for Mireille Parc. His longest relationship was with Rosalie van Breemen (mother of Alain-Fabien and Anouchka Delon) who left him in 2001.

Photos: (Getty Images via vogue.com)

Alain Delon and Romy Schneider had a romantic love affair. Delon had called Schneider puppelé (“baby doll” in German). Delon and Schneider were on set together once again at the end of the 1960s for the film “La Piscine” in Saint-Tropez. Romy Schneider had said during filming:
“The most important man in my life remains Delon. He is always ready to reach out to me. He would run to my aid at any time. Alain has never abandoned me to myself, neither today nor yesterday.“ (vogue.com)

Delon and Schneider – Two months after their engagement at the 12th Cannes Film Festival in May 1959, on the terrace of the Hotel Eden-Roc, at Cap d’Antibes. ( Paris Match No: 3929 (photo taken by my mobile phone from the magazine))
(Well, I should say the photo speaks for itself…)

Schneider had married and divorced twice after Alain Delon. She had two children one of which she lost at an accident at the age of 14. She died of heart failure in her Paris apartment in 1982 at the age of 43. (imdb.com)

Photos: (bordo.al)

I recently went through the Paris Match issue dedicated to Alain Delon (No: 3929 dd. August 22, 2024) – a very nice summary of the French actor’s life with wonderful photos – where I had the chance to read about Delon and Schneider’s love story, and Delon’s letter to Schneider following her death. Delon’s letter caused me to tear up and became the inspiration for this post …

Alain Delon, upset by Romy Schneider’s death on May 29, 1982, had published an open letter in Paris Match:”Adieu Ma Puppelé” (Goodbye My ‘Puppelé’ (baby doll)).

Photos: Pinterest / tumblr.com

Below are some extracts from Alain Delon’s letter to Romy Schneider:
(translated from Alain Delon Fans Group Facebook & Paris Match no: 3929)

“I watch you sleep. I am with you, at your bedside….I say goodbye to you, the longest of goodbyes, my Puppelé. That’s what I called you. It meant “little doll” in German….How calm you are, how fine you are, how beautiful you are…
I watch you sleep. They tell me that you are dead. I think of you, of me, of us. What am I guilty of? … not guilty, no, but responsible… I am. Because of me, it was in Paris that your heart, the other night, stopped beating. Because of me because it was twenty-five years ago and I had been chosen to be your partner in “Christine”. You were coming from Vienna and I was waiting in Paris with a bouquet of flowers in my arms that I didn’t know how to hold. …
We often asked each other this lovers’ question: “Who fell in love first, you or me?” We counted: “One, two, three!” and we answered “Neither you nor me! Together!”…
At the end of the film, I told you: “Come live with me, in France“, and you had already told me “I want to live near you, in France”. …
I will neither go to church nor to the cemetery. … Forgive me. I will come and see you the next day, and we will be alone.
I watch you sleep. …. I say to myself: you loved me. I loved you. I made you a French woman, a French star. For that, yes, I feel responsible. And this country that you loved, because of me, became yours. …
My Puppelé, I look at you again and again. I want to devour you with all my gaze, and tell you again and again that you have never been so beautiful and so calm. Rest. I am here. I learned a little German, near you. “Ich liebe dich.” I love you. I love you, my Puppelé.““

Photo: (Getty Images via vogue.com)

Lines full of emotion and pure love ... For the last days of the year…

I would like to share the last lines of Alain Delon’s letter in its original language, in French, below:

“Ma Puppelé, je te regarde encore et encore. Je veux te dévorer de tous mes regards, et te dire encore et encore que tu n’as jamais été si belle et si calme. Repose-toi. Je suis là. J’ai appris un peu d’allemand, près de toi. «Ich liebe dich.» Je t’aime. Je t’aime, ma Puppelé.»“ …

End of 1962 – Alain rolling out dough and Romy decorating the Christmas tree – their last Christmas together (Paris Match No: 3929 (photos taken by my mobile phone from the magazine))

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Full of love and joy …