French film star Alain Delon’s home raided by police, 72 guns found

Police have seized 72 firearms from the home of French screen legend Alain Delon, who doesn’t have a permit for any of them, prosecutors said on Tuesday, February 27.

Officers also found more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition and a shooting range in the actor’s rural home in Douchy-Montcorbon, some 135 kilometers south of Paris.

Delon, 88, “has no authorization that would allow him to own a firearm,” said local prosecutor Jean-Cedrix Gaux. The star played gun-toting gangsters in several of his most famous films, including Borsalino, and is credited with creating the Hollywood trope of the mysterious cerebral hitman in the 1967 film Le Samouraï (The Samurai).

Delon has been in poor health since he suffered a stroke in 2019 and has recently been the center of an escalating family feud. The search was ordered after a court-appointed official sent to his home noticed a weapon and alerted a judge.

Delon has rarely appeared on screen since the 1990s and his last major public appearance was to receive an honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019. He did, however, attend the Paris funeral of his friend and fellow star Jean-Paul Belmondo in September 2021.

Last month Delon’s youngest son filed a complaint against his sister accusing her of exploiting Delon’s frailty. The feud went public after Delon’s oldest son Anthony Delon told Paris Match magazine that his father was in a “weakened” state. Delon senior, through his lawyer, said he was “shocked” and would file a complaint for defamation.