Alain Delon, a French leading man known for his portrayal of Patricia Highsmith's anti-hero Tom Ripley, his work with directors including Louis Malle and Sergio Leone, and his open and unapologetic appetites, died Sunday, his family announced in a statement. He was 88.

Born Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon on November 8, 1935, in Sceaux, France, Delon was discovered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1957 by a representative of powerful studio head David O. Selznick. He was about to accept a contract, head to Hollywood, and start studying English when a French director, Yves Allégret, made him a separate offer that would allow him to remain in France. Delon chose the latter.

Alain Delon caught the world's attention in 1960 for his role in director René Clément’s Plein Soleil (Purple Moon), an adaptation of author Patricia Highsmith's book The Talented Mr. Ripley, the same story later adapted by Anthony Minghella in 1999 and by Steve Zaillian this year. Delon's Ripley, Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw writes, was “a Dorian Gray portrait of male beauty and unscrupulous daring, untroubled by conscience.”

In the years that followed, he became one of France's biggest stars, and appeared alongside internationally recognized actors such as Jane Fonda, Burt Lancaster, and Brigette Bardot. But fame in the US—which Delon said was a goal—never fully clicked for the actor. As noted by the New York Times, Delon described Hollywood success as “the top, the last step — it’s a kind of consecration" in 1965, but despite efforts including The Concorde … Airport ’79, he remained a side character in the States.

Offscreen, his life recieved scrutiny for his role in the so-called Markovic Affair, a 1968 scandal that followed the slaying of Delon's friend and stand-in, Stevan Markovic. The death spurred an investigation that revealed a pattern of sex parties and gangland relationships that involved the actor and a number of prominent French politicians.

In an infamous interview with the BBC in 1969, the actor denied an alleged role in Markovic's death, but also responded to rumors that Delon has had sex with men. “So what's wrong if I had? Or I did?,” Delon said. "Would I be guilty of something? If I like it I'll do it. We have a great actor in France named Michel Simon, and Michel Simon said once, 'If you like your goat, make love with your goat.' But the only matter is to love."

A few months after his appearance at the 2019 Canners film Festival, at which he received an honorary Palme d'Or, Delon suffered a stroke, and largely stepped away from public view. That retreat from fame was something he'd been looking forward to since the previous year, he told GQ in a 2018 interview.

“Look, I had incredible luck,” He said. "I've been happy all my life; I filmed with the best. I did what I wanted, with who I wanted, when I wanted. I dwell on the past more than I think about the future, yes, because my past was extraordinary. Today just doesn't compare. A life like I had doesn't come around twice. That's why when it comes to retirement, I have no regrets."