Nathalie Delon

**Nathalie Delon** (born **Francine Canovas**, also known as **Nathalie Barthélémy**; 1 August 194121 January 2021) was a French actress, model, movie director and writer. In the 1960s, Nathalie was regarded as one of the most beautiful women in the world 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.

## Early life

Francine Canovas was born on 1 August 1941 in Oujda, Morocco, then under French Protectorate in Morocco, to a family of Spanish origin. 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. She had a sister, Louisette,and a brother.

## Career

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. 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, __ () 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.

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".

## Personal life

In 1957, 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. 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. 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).

### Death

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

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Nathalie Delon
- **image**: NathalieDelon-1965-Italie.png
- **birth name**: Francine Canovas
- **birth place**: Oujda, Morocco
- **death place**: Paris, France
- **death cause**: Pancreatic cancer
- **occupation**: Actress, writer, movie director
- **years active**: 1965 – 2010
- **spouse**:

- **children**: 2; including Anthony Delon