site.btaBulgarians Remember French Actor Alain Delon for His Charisma, Talent and Manliness

Bulgarians have joined the world in mourning the death of legendary French actor Alain Delon, who passed away on August 18. Recognized as a star worldwide, Delon melted the hearts of Bulgarians, who flocked theatres in hordes every time to see his new film. The man who starred in Rocco and His Brothers (1960), The Samurai (1967), Borsalino (1970), Zorro (1975), Mr. Klein (1976) and For a Cop's Hide (1981), remains one of the most recognizable cultural icons in Bulgaria to this day.

This is not surprising. After all, Delon was one of the last living legends of a golden era for French cinema in the 1960s, as RFI.fr puts it. An enigmatic anti-hero, and France's most beautiful male movie star (TheConversation.com), Delon came to represent an unattainable ideal, with his piercing wolf-blue eyes, Elvis Presley cheekbones and fit, ready-to-wrestle physique (Variety.com). People in and outside the industry have described him as "the angel-faced gangster" (American director Jim Jarmusch), a man who "played legendary roles and made the world dream" (French President Emmanuel Macron), and "the most beautiful human being" (American actress Jane Fonda).

Below is a selection of Bulgarians' reactions and comments posted on Facebook after the demise of Alain Delon. Some of the authors are well-known public figures. Facebook usernames in the Cyrillic script have been transcribed with Latin letters:

Vladina Cekova: Our blue-eyed love Alain Delon flew to the angels! May his soul bathe in light! We are left with his unforgettable roles and films, which we will love always.

Peppa Petrova: I am not in the mood to write anything about Alain Delon... A huge loss! No other Alain Delon was ever born to the world or will ever be.

Boyko Borissov: Legends never die! I bow before the great Alain Delon!

Stephan Tafrov: Farewell to Alain Delon (1935-2024), the legend of French and world cinema, one of very few European actors who matched up to the Hollywood stars. He would burn the screen with his presence like no other. He has gone to heaven to rejoin the women of his life such as Romy Schneider and Mireille Darc; to be again with the great directors whose films studded his career: Luchino Visconti, Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean-Pierre Melville, Louis Malle; and to be with his co-stars Jean Gabin, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Annie Girardot. I bow with reverence!

Gergina Dvoretzka: We saw him in The Black Tulip on BNT1 yesterday, and I said to myself once again that he was one of the most handsome actors in the world.

Margarita Petkova: He was not really an actor? He just gave off this dull gaze into the camera with his blue eyes? He was a narcissistic, brutal prick who abandoned women and children, and that's all? [Far from it,] he was a MAN par excellence, a man who said about himself that he was good at three things: his job, doing foolish things, and making children. Who would want more from life, and who could get more? And what for, heh?

Martin Karbovski: Alain Delon died to remind women of something. Women need to protect men. More than that, they need to protect Fathers. They should create men. They should create Fathers. Delon is the end of the World, the world of beautiful people in which we ugly people could persevere and dream. His death is a watershed, beyond which lies a new World, the world of ugly people who want beauty to be diluted, to be called something else, to be punished. Look at today's actors and singers. Beauty for home use, right?! This kind of beauty offers no comfort, and you can't dream about it.

Diana Yuskolova: I've been thinking about Alain Delon. One day, about 150 years ago, I saw a photo of him for the first time, it was on the nightstand of my mother's youngest cousin. The photo stood right next to a very beautiful crown (my mom's cousin was a school beauty queen), which I wanted to touch, but I didn't dare because the man was giving me this strange look from the photo. It was a black-and-white photo, so I could not tell how blue his eyes were. But he looked impossibly handsome. People instinctively think that those who are good-looking are also kind-hearted, and I thought so, too. I told the girl I wanted to meet her "friend" - I was sure he was her boyfriend, otherwise why would she have him on her nightstand? She laughed and said he was just an actor. "Just" an actor? All right, but he mesmerized me every time I entered the room. I finally mustered the courage to knock his photo down, which was the only way to bring myself to touch that beautiful crown... I wonder what he would have said if he had known this story. Remember the handsome man and his blue eyes, and may he rest in peace!

Nona Yotova: Don't you ever say that everyone is dispensable. Not everyone. Indispensable and unique people do exist. He is now the most handsome actor in heaven. Thank God that Hollywood didn't get him. Although they tried.

Kostadin Georgiev: I like cinema, I like watching films. But they are unimportant to me... They are just entertainment. I know him as a man who was fond of animals. And it saddens me that he is gone.

Boryana Atanasova: He reminds me of Stefan Danailov, another man from a fading era, a man with a capital M... [Stefan Danailov, 1942-2019, was one of Bulgaria's most talented, charismatic and popular actors. He was often compared to Delon, and sometimes openly imitated him.]

Katya Tasheva: It saddens me to think that Alain Delon spent his last years filled with disgust at this world.

Ileana Stoyanova: I adore Alain Delon! Even at an old age, when he received [the Honorary Palme d'Or at Cannes] in 2019, he spoke wisely in his interviews about today's mercantile world, people having no empathy for other people and for animals, about real women, real men, and it was exactly my thought when he said, no, the world I live in is not my world. Handsome, charming, very talented, mainly a dramatic actor (he plays with his eyes and his body, speaks without words), building characters you remember for life. His life was full of meaning and so much love. I bow to him!!! He will be remembered for a long time.