The French actor Alain Delon, who embodied the character of the villain and the police officer and stirred the emotions of people around the world, passed away at the age of 88, according to French media.

Thanks to his handsome appearance and suave style, the prolific actor was able to combine strength with the appealing and vulnerable traits that made him one of France's most prominent stars.

Delon was also a producer and appeared in plays, and in later years, in television films.

The French president Emmanuel Macron praised the "legendary actor" in a post on X.

He wrote: "Alain Delon played legendary roles and made the world dream. He was sad, popular, and discreet, and he was more than just a star."

Delon's children announced his death on Sunday in a statement to the French news agency Agence France-Presse, a common practice in France. Tributes to Delon immediately began to pour in on social media, and all the leading French media outlets shifted to full coverage of his rich career.

Earlier this year, his son Anthony said that his father had been diagnosed with B-type lymphatic cancer.

Over the past year, Delon's fragile health had been at the center of a family dispute over his care, leading to a bitter exchange through the media between his three children.

At the height of his career in the 1960s and 1970s, some of the world's top directors, from Luchino Visconti to Joseph Losey, sought Delon.

In his later years, Delon became disillusioned with the film industry, stating that money had killed the dream. "Money, commerce, and television have shattered the dream machine," he wrote in the 2003 edition of the weekly magazine Le Nouvel Observateur. "My cinema is dead. So am I."

Yet he continued to work regularly, appearing in many television films in his seventies.

Delon's presence was unforgettable, whether playing morally ambiguous heroes or leading romantic men. He first gained acclaim in 1960 with the film "Plein Soleil" directed by René Clément, in which he played a killer who tries to assume the identity of his victims.

He made many Italian films and worked particularly with Visconti on the 1961 film "Rocco and His Brothers," where Delon portrays a brother who sacrifices himself determined to help his sibling. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

The film "Le Guepard" (The Leopard) directed by Visconti in 1963, starring Delon, won the Palme d'Or, the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival. Other films include "Is Paris Burning?" directed by Clément, with a screenplay by Gore Vidal, Francis Ford Coppola, and others; "La Piscine" (The Swimming Pool) directed by Jacques Deray; and in 1972, "The Assassination of Trotsky" directed by Losey.

In 1968, Delon began producing films — he had produced 26 by 1990 — as part of the driven and confident momentum he maintained throughout his life.

Delon's confidence was palpable in his statement to the magazine "Femina" in 1996, "I love to be loved the way I love myself!" This reflected his charismatic personality on screen.

Delon continued to capture audiences' attention for years - on his way to criticizing comments that were considered outdated. In 2010, he appeared in "Un mari de trop" ("One Husband Too Many") and returned to the stage in 2011 with "Une journée ordinaire," alongside his daughter Anouchka.

He briefly chaired the Miss France jury but stepped down in 2013 after a dispute over some controversial statements, which included criticism of women, LGBTQIA+ rights, and immigrants. Despite these controversies, he received the honorary Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, a decision that sparked further debate.

The Brigitte Bardot Foundation, dedicated to protecting animals, praised him as "an exceptional man, an unforgettable artist, and a great friend of animals," in a statement released on social media. The statement noted that Delon was a "close friend" of French cinema legend Brigitte Bardot "who deeply feels the loss of his passing." "We have lost a precious friend and a man with a big heart."

French film producer Alain Terzian called Delon "the last giant."

He told France Inter radio: "It's a page that turns in the history of French cinema." Terzian, who produced many films directed by Delon, recalled that "every time he arrived somewhere... there was a kind of nearly religious, mystical respect. He was magnificent."

Delon was born on November 8, 1935, in Sceaux, just south of Paris, and was placed with a foster family after his parents separated when he was four years old. He then attended a Roman Catholic boarding school.

At the age of seventeen, Delon joined the navy and was sent to Indochina. He returned to France in 1956, holding various odd jobs from a waiter to a porter at the Paris meat market before turning to acting.

Delon had a son named Anthony in 1964 with his then-wife Nathalie Canovas, who starred alongside him in Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 film "The Samurai." He had two other children, Anouchka and Alain-Fabien, with later partner Rosalie van Breemen, with whom he produced a song and music video in 1987. He was also widely believed to be the father of Ari Boulogne, the son of German model and singer Nico, although he did not publicly acknowledge his paternity.

He said in an interview with the newspaper L'Express in 1995: "I'm very good at three things: my job, my foolishness, and my children."

Delon engaged in various activities throughout his life, from building a stable for horses to developing perfumes for men and women, then watches, glasses, and other accessories. He also collected paintings and sculptures.

Delon announced the end of his acting career in 1999, but continued, appearing in Bertrand Blier's film "Les Acteurs" the same year. He later appeared in several police television shows.

His good looks helped him to continue. In August 2002, Delon told the weekly magazine, L'humanité Hebdo, that he wouldn't stay in the business if that weren't the case.

He said as he approached seventy: "You will never see me old and ugly, because I will leave before that, or I will die."

However, in 2019, Delon expressed his feelings about the meaning of his life during a tribute to him at the Cannes Film Festival. "The only thing I'm sure of is that if there's something I truly pride myself on, it's my career."