France pays tribute to screen legend Alain Delon

France on Monday paid homage to film legend Alain Delon following his death at 88, with tributes pouring in for the actor who became one of his country's biggest stars, but was also shadowed by controversy.

Delon had made it clear he did not want a national memorial event, but rather burial near his dogs on his property in Douchy in central France where he died.

He had already started sounding out the  authorities and had their agreement in principle, local official Christophe Hurault told AFP.

His three children, Anthony, Anouchka and Alain-Fabien, having squabbled bitterly for months over his medical treatment, spoke in a unified voice Sunday when they announced their father's death.

Now they have to manage the funeral of the screen icon, deciding whether to limit it to close family or extend it to the cinema world.

Delon, naturally, dominated the front pages of France's newspapers Monday, many of them featuring full-page portraits of the actor in his prime.

"The Last Samurai", wrote Le Figaro for its front-page headline, a reference to one of his most famous roles, as the enigmatic assassin in Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 thriller "Le Samourai".

- End of an era -

Delon's performances in some of the greatest films of the 1960s and 70s were widely praised, his charisma on screen impossible to ignore.

He was one of the last living legends of a golden era for French cinema in the 1960s.

Fellow 60s star Brigitte Bardot, 89, told AFP Delon "leaves a huge void that nothing, nobody, can fill".

Nathalie Baye, who starred with him in the film "Our Story", said Delon was "not a fun guy" but, she added, "very endearing".

French President Emmanuel Macron called him a "French monument" who "played legendary roles and made the world dream".

His death was covered by newspapers around the world, with the New York Times, Washington Post and New York Post all publishing lengthy obituaries.

The Washington Post described him as the "angel-faced tough guy of international cinema", while The Hollywood Reporter said he was the "seductive star of European cinema".

"Mesmeric and beautiful, Alain Delon was one of cinema's most mysterious stars," The Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw wrote.

Germany's Spiegel called him "Europe's James Dean", while Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the "aura of the handsome angel of death made him a legend".

In Italy, where he spent much of his career, Il Corriere della Sera said that "there will never be another actor like Delon, unique and immortal".

"For me, he was a legend," 26-year-old moviegoer Victor Roussel told AFP before a showing of his 1963 film "The Leopard" at a Paris cinema Sunday.

- Controversial views -

In Japan, another solid fanbase for Delon, many film buffs also mourned the death of the "handsome" actor from France.

"My friends in their 70s and 80s are still all madly in love with him. Even at 88, he looked great," Delon fan Seta, 74, told AFP on Monday.

While he had legions of fans around the world, his personal life and political opinions divided opinion.

Delon's relationship with women caused controversy. His sons accused him of domestic violence, which Delon denied while admitting slapping women during quarrels.

Delon also drew criticism for supporting Jean-Marie Le Pen, co-founder of the far-right National Front, who was in favour of the death penalty and spoke against same-sex relationships.

Feminists were also appalled by the lifetime achievement award the Cannes Film Festival gave him in 2019.

He lived his later years largely as a recluse, though his personal life kept him in the headlines.

In 2023, his three children filed a complaint against his live-in assistant Hiromi Rollin, accusing her of harassment and threatening behaviour.

The siblings went on to wage a public battle in the media and the courts, arguing over his health, which worsened after a stroke in 2019.

Delon lived out his final years in the small village of Douchy, surrounded by high walls.

Outside the entrance to his home, dozens of fans placed flowers to pay their respects.

"In our minds we believe that these icons are eternal," said Marie Arnold, laying white flowers with her sister Michele.

"It's a part of our youth that is gone."