Nathalie Delon

Nathalie Delon (born Francine Canovas, also known as Nathalie Barthélémy; 1 August 1941 – 21 January 2021) was a French actress, model, movie director and writer.^[1] In the 1960s, Nathalie was regarded as one of the most beautiful women in the world^[2] and in the 1970s, she was considered a French sex symbol. She is well known for her first acting role, appearing opposite her husband, actor Alain Delon, in the neo-noir movie Le Samouraï directed by Jean-Pierre Melville (1967). She appeared in 30 movies and directed two others. Nathalie was also credited as the muse of the Rolling Stones.^[3]

Francine Canovas was born on 1 August 1941 in Oujda, Morocco,^[4][5] then under French Protectorate in Morocco, to a family of Spanish origin.^[6] She was the daughter of Louis Canovas (1915–2003), pied-noir of Oran (Algeria), manager of a transport company in Morocco, who abandoned her at the age of eight months in 1942 and Antoinette Rodriguez, she was from Melilla.^[7] She had a sister, Louisette,and a brother.

During the 1960s, Delon was a model. She was photographed by top French and foreign photographers for famous magazines such as Vogue.

In 1967, Delon became a movie actress, starring opposite her husband in the movie Le Samouraï by Jean-Pierre Melville, which became a hit.^[6] Writing of the Delons' performances in Le Figaro, Bertrand Guyard notes husband and wife are both nearly silent but "their gazes, fraught with meaning, are enough to thrill the camera" with the director drawing from their portrayals "a mythical couple in the seventh art."

Afterwards, Nathalie Delon continued her acting career until the 1980s. In 1971 she appeared in When Eight Bells Toll with Anthony Hopkins. In a review in The New York Times, critic Vincent Canby said her performance "evokes all the mystery and enchantment of Bella Darvi's performance as the physicist in Samuel Fuller's Hell and High Water." In 1973, she appeared in Le Sex Shop, her turn one of the movie's "moments of real pleasure" as one of its "really marvelous girls", Roger Greenspun wrote in The New York Times.

In addition to acting in 30 movies in her career, she also directed two, Ils appellent ça un accident (transl. They Call It an Accident) in 1982 and Sweet Lies in 1988. They Call It an Accident, which Delon directed and wrote, is the story of a mother whose son dies in surgery.^[8]

In 2006, Delon published a memoir, Pleure pas, c'est pas grave (Don't cry, it's okay). Le Figaro called it an account of a dark period in her life—her painful marriage to Delon and his infidelities, her descent into drug use—yet includes moments that made her laugh and the reader too by extension: "delicious and entertaining anecdotes".^[9]

In 1957,^[10] Nathalie married for the first time to a conscript from the north of France, Guy Barthélémy, who later become the signing officer of the Omnium Marocain d'Assurance. They lived in Morocco and had a daughter named Nathalie Barthélémy. They broke up in 1962 and she moved to Paris.^[11] After their divorce, Nathalie changed her name (Francine) to Nathalie because of her love for her daughter, who lived with her father and not her mother because of the strict laws prevailing in Morocco for women who want to divorce.

In August 1962, Nathalie met the French actor Alain Delon at New Jimmy's, a Paris nightclub, and they began a secret relationship that night that lasted one year. In May 1963, Natηalie accompanied Delon on the shooting of his new movie La Tulipe Noire. In spring 1964 the had a great engagement and on 13 August 1964, Nathalie and Alain get married in the Loir-et-Cher. Their son, Anthony Delon, was born on Sertember 30, 1964 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.^[6] They were one of the most glamorous and talked about couples of the 60's. In June 1968, Nathalie broke up with Delon. The couple divorced on 14 February 1969. They collaborated on two movies: Le Samouraϊ (while they were married) and Doucement les Basses (some years after their separation).

During the 1960s and 1970s she dated Bobby Keys, Marc Porel, Eddie Fisher, Renaud Verley, Louis Malle, and Franco Nero, among others. Her greatest love was Chris Blackwell, whom she was with for 15 years (1978–1993).

Delon died at the age of 79, on 21 January 2021 in Paris, from pancreatic cancer.^[12]