French screen legend Alain Delon hospitalized

PARIS (AFP) ― Alain Delon, perhaps France’s best known movie actor, briefly underwent surgery for an irregular heartbeat in Paris on Wednesday, the 76-year-old told the daily Le Parisien.

“I was operated on two hours ago. It was planned. Two weeks ago I had dizzy spells and nausea,” he said, according to an account on the paper’s website, adding that he had been under anaesthetic for only 10 minutes.

“They tried to get my heart back in place,” he said.

“I had a scan. I was given the all clear on the neurological level, but they found an irregular heartbeat. It’s the kind of thing that happed to guys like me when there’s a build up of emotion. The shit I’ve been through.”

“These days, I’ve been well served, what with my son and all,” he said, referring to a court case pending against his 17-year-old son accused of accidentally wounding a party guest in a firearm incident.

Born in 1935, Delon starred in around 100 films over five decades and worked with directors such as Luchino Visconti, Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean-Pierre Melville, Joseph Losey and Jean-Luc Godard.

Often cast as a ruthless, steely-eyed bad boy ― typified by the 1970 gangster flick “Borsalino” ― Delon proved his versatility in other roles, such as a morally ambiguous wartime art dealer in “Monsieur Klein.”

His personal life was closely intertwined with film, notably featuring relationships with Romy Schneider, Mireille Darc and Nathalie Delon, all prominent actresses in their own right.

Alain Delon was born in the Paris suburb of Sceaux. His father ran a local cinema and his mother worked in a pharmacy.