Alain Delon: French movie actor, who starred in Purple Noon and The Leopard, dies at 88

Directors from Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino to Hong Kong’s John Woo have acknowledged a debt to Delon’s performance as the silent killer in Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai, which set the template for one of Hollywood’s favourite stereotypes – the mysterious, cerebral hitman.

A huge star in France and Japan, Delon never made it as big in Hollywood, despite starring alongside American cinema giants, including Burt Lancaster when the Frenchman played apprentice-hitman Scorpio in the 1973 film of the same name.

Off screen, he courted controversy with his outspoken views, including when he said he regretted the abolition of the death penalty and spoke disparagingly of gay marriage, which was legalised in France in 2013.