Alain Delon 1936-2024 (around this time last year)

I said at the time and post again here largely because of his music connection to Marianne and Nico . .

 . . . . controversial enigmatic actor Alain Delon has died (88) and his relationships with the opposite sex seem to have troubled his career and reputation as a fine actor. His private life was notoriously complex and whilst frequently described as amongst the most beautiful of handsome men in the world, his political affiliations (with gangsters the far right and allegedly the mob) his associations with the darker side coloured his standing in the film and acting world.

From the legendary ‘Le Samourai’ (seen here above) to the notorious vehicle for him and Marianne Faithful in 'Girl on a Motorcycle’ he was always mesmerising. Faithful stands as possibly the only women to openly resist his charms and seduction technique finding him rather laughably gauche [“not my type at all". Cheating on his then fiancé the scintillating German actor Romy Schneider (I collect pictures of them both and especially Romy - there is a film bio there . . . ) with Velvet Underground’s Nico fathering her only son, Ari. Delon never acknowledged his son but the boy was brought up by the actor’s mother so . . . . After her untimely death he described Schneider as the love of his life and still put flowers on her grave on a regular basis. 

We will not see his like again. 

 

Rock Beauty of the Week : Christa Päfgen - NICO

Speaking of the Velvet Underground . . . . . . . . . 

Before the smack kicked in . . . . . 

"Recognise this dazzling blonde? It’s Nico (yes, THAT Nico!) aka Christa Päffgen in her pre-Warhol / Velvet Underground international supermodel days, photographed by Jerry Schatzberg in 1961. Photographer and filmmaker Schatzberg knew a thing or two about complicated women with great cheekbones: in the 1960s he was engaged to Faye Dunaway (she ditched him for Marcello Mastroianni!) and later directed Dunaway in the intriguingly weird 1970 psychodrama Puzzle of a Downfall Child.” Only perhaps here can you see why Alain Delon would have had a child (Ari) with her behind the back of his then fiancée the equally breathtaking Romy Schneider

 

MARIANNE ON FILM . . . . .

 MARIANNE FAITHFUL

'THE GIRL ON A MOTORCYCLE'

Marianne on the film: “I made a couple of terrible movies that year. I’ll Never Forget What’s ’Isname with Oliver Reed in which, appropriately enough, I have the distinction of being the first person to say “f*ck” in a legitimate movie. And the soft porn Girl on a Motorcycle. It took three months to make. I was away a lot and Mick visited me on location in Zurich and Heidelberg and the South of France. Alain Delon was the star, and very early on in the film he tried to pull me in the same desultory way that Roy Orbison had. When I turned him down, he became very sullen and nasty and difficult. He was such a pompous ass, in any case, and every time he said that ludicrous line, ‘Your body is like a beautiful violin in a velvet case,’ while unzipping my leather suit, I would crack up. It was dozens of takes before I could do it with a straight face.”

I'll Never Forget What's 'Isname - Michael Winner dir

 

HOLLYWOOD BABYLON III - a sordid tale of Hollywood life - Barbara Ann Thomason & Mickey Rooney

BARBARA ANN THOMASON

I was always a fan of Kenneth Anger's 'Hollywood Babylon' book (the second one not quite so much) the first volume of which I discovered as an art student and it still figures as a prized possession but here's an account that fits right in

Barbara in the middle

Barbara Ann Thomason was a 50s & 60s beauty queen/B-movie actress best known for being the unlucky fifth of Hollywood manlet Mickey Rooney’s nine wives She was allegedly murdered by her Serbian gangster lover Miloš Milošević, but a deeper dive throws a lot of suspicion on jealous husband Rooney.

 Barbara was a Hollywood starlet who was cast in low budget exploitation movies. In 1958 at the age of 21, she met 5 ft 1″ 38-year old Rooney at a nightclub. She was out of his league and thought he would be an easy sugar daddy, but their relationship was toxic and she tried to kill herself several times. 

 After ODing on sleeping pills, she finally got Mickey to marry her. They had four kids together, but he was a broke gambling addict who kept cheating. When he cuckolded her with a Sophia Loren lookalike, Barbara finally cheated with his friend Milos Milosevic .

 He was an arrogant Yugoslav gangster who had worked for Alain Delon who was described as “very pleasant but nuts. He would drive sports cars and aim for people. They would have to jump out of his way. This was always a big laugh to him.”  They had a passionate affair with Milos moving into Mickey’s own home while he was filming the Philippines. 

 Milos also had sex with Delon’s wife Nathalie, which pissed off Delon terribly. After Mickey sued Barbara for a divorce which would’ve left her in poverty, she tried to reconcile with him in 1966.

 On the night of Jan. 31, Barbara told a calm Milos that she was dumping him and reuniting with her husband. At 8:30 p.m. they disappeared into the master bedroom. At noon the next day, the maid and houseguests broke into the unresponsive couple’s room and found them dead on the bathroom floor with bullets in their skull.

 They were shot with a .38 revolver purchased by Mickey Rooney in 1964. According to police, it was a simple murder-suicide. But why had no one heard the sound of bullets that night; neither the maid, or the three children down the hall; nor the two other houseguests? How had Milos gotten access to Mickey’s gun? Why was the bed still made? The official story was fishy.

 There were rumors in Serbia that Milos was killed by Hollywood insiders. According to the Yugoslav Kinoteka site, an autopsy found traces of violence against Milos; including a swollen face and blue bruises. There were no fingerprints on the gun, and he was also said to have a skull fracture and broken arm. An examination in Belgrade found barbiturate-laden whiskey in his body. 

 At Barbara’s funeral, the reverend gave her a touching euology: “This beautiful girl was like a spray of roses, now only the fragrance remains.” That same year, a sleazy Mickey Rooney married Barbara’s BFF Margie Lane, who was with Barbara on her last night of life at the Daisy restaurant. 

 Two years later, Milos’ cousin Stevan Marković who was also a bodyguard of Delon was kidnapped and shot dead in Paris. In 1973, Milos’ ex-wife Cynthia Bouron was found beaten to death in the trunk of her car in California, after suing Cary Grant for the paternity of her baby.

- Death of a Beauty Queen: Barbara Ann Thomason & the Dark Underbelly of 60s Hollywood Glamour

Source edited from Lost Girls