đđ˝ď¸ NYT Review: Murder in Paris â68
NYT book review: He Was the Most Beautiful Man in the World. Did He Kill His Double?
In âMurder in Paris â68,â Edward Chisholm unspools the seedy murder of Alain Delonâs bodyguard with panache and hard-boiled charm.
Lâaffaire MarkoviÄ, what else?
Iâm surprised that Chisholm chose to write a book on this old affair that will never be solved. France has a long tradition of hushing up âstate affairs.â Itâs not the only one doing that. Still, when France, Britain, and the US behave like the Soviet Union, you can legitimately ask yourself, what the fuck does âdemocracyâ really mean, and whatâs the purpose of going to vote if âcrimes for a raison d'ĂŠtatâ remain monnaie courante?
Known for his louche glamour and billed as âthe most beautiful man in the world,â the French New Wave movie idol Alain Delon had a life that was far darker and seamier than most people knew.
I will read the book, though, because itâs well written. Much, much better than the article! Actually, from the same author, âA Waiter in Parisâ (2022) is also worth reading (CA, UK). It depicts a dire face of Paris.
From that bookâs note on the author:
Now, Chisholm makes a living as a copywriter/pen for hire, with ambitions of writing novels. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, and the Financial Times.
Four years later, things have changed:
Now, Chisholm makes a living as a creative director, author and screenwriter, based in Switzerland. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian and the Financial Times magazine.
Either way, this guy has some talent IMHO. And a new residence.
Back to the review, itâs crappy, but some readersâ comments are worth mentioning:
tara, mi ¡ Fascinating read.
However, letâs question a couple of things. First, the French New Wave was never âdecadentâ. Never. It was the opposite. The New Wave took the groundbreaking manifesto of Truffaut, which parsed the language of cinema differently, and called for an âauthorial cinemaâ as opposed to a mid-century, American-style âindustrialâ one. CinĂŠma auteur was born. Some of its achievements still stand as monumental.
Second, to clarify, itâs good to note that the reference to âMr Ripplyâ is based on the original 1950s book, not the US film done much later.
Third, Delon was a lifelong ultra-conservative who occasionally championed the neo-Nazi Right under Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Fourth, Delon was essentially a mannequin, which is not exactly beauty. That, too, complies with New Wave theory.ccpivo, washington ¡ Most comments seem worried about who is the âmost beautiful manâ and are off-topic. My dog thinks I am.
Delon was the French Dean, and more so as he lived longer with many relationships, and Franceâs trickier society. Most assume he was occasionally bisexual, likely started in military prison, where he avoided anti-colonial combat that was tearing France apart. He escaped that into glamor life of films.
Relationship to org. crime a bit like rat pack 2-way patronage. Likely involved in murder because of sex; you choose.CJ, Ca ¡ The French New Wave was âdecadentâ? I would say, on the contrary, that it was an often intellectually rigorous creative revitalization of cinema. And Markovic may have served as a body double for Delon on some shoots, but he certainly didnât look exactly like him. Nor is âviper-like coldnessâ an accurate characterization of Delonâs acting career, which was long, varied, and displayed considerable range. If this breathless and, I would say, poorly informed review is anything like the book, I wonât be reading it. It doesnât sound like Chisholm did any new research or uncovered any new facts that might shed light on the crime, so much as recycling old gossip.
RCS, New Jersey ¡ As a kid (in the 70s), I was a big fan of French Action Films, starring Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Didnât know anything about Mr. Delonâs purported âviper-like coldnessâ.
Mr. Delonâs was truly a âmatinĂŠe idolâ with lot of âsavoir faireâ.MScott, Northeast ¡ Chisholmâs description of police headquarters, included here, could be based on scenes from âLe Cercle Rougeâ. Very appropriate.
EB, SouthernCal ¡ Amazing... So many experts here on male beauty, face, body, and on Delonâs acting chops. I am surprised so many people in the US actually knew so much about him. I grew up with him as a major star. He was one of a kind. When he died, NYT had a nice obit. The book sounds interesting, particularly the contextual info.
GibsonGirl99, Earth ¡ Delon was a treat for the eyes, but as for being the most beautiful? There are WAY too many to choose from, so Iâd say âAll of those menâ can be the most beautiful. But the one who loves me is the most everything. Always.
septimus, New Mexico ¡ No one seems to like Godardâs Nouvelle Vague, the only true ânew waveâ film Delon starred in. Iâd take that over any other film of his, including the Melville-directed ones.
Beth, Wayne, NJ ¡ Loved, Loved, Loved, Alain Delon. He was a most handsome man! (my opinion) Back when Netflix carried DVDs I rented all they had with Delon (22 movies). He made great flicks of all kinds, and had some stunning leading ladies. I canât wait to read this book!
David Dyte, Brooklyn ¡ Great, another way to feed my increasingly morbid Ripley fixation.
Charles Almon, Brooklyn NY ¡ He fathered a son Ari, with German singer Nico - but always denied paternity.
stereoalexa, Oakland ¡ Which was crazy, because Ari looked just like him.
Emilie, Paris ¡ And he let his own mom raise and adopt Ari without acknowledging him, the boy never recovered.
Pat Choate, Tucson ¡ Looking forward to the movie.
NOTwokeNORmaga, Virginia ¡ Well, if he wanted to stay THE most beautiful man, heâd have to, wouldnât he?
SirHenry, OverThere ¡ Funny, the book review is about a murder, yet most comments quibble about whoâs more beautiful... beauty always lies famously in the eye of the beholder, if anything, the proper description would be telegenic, as presumably nobody actually met Delon, JFK, or others mentioned (besides Pat in the Berkshires ;), in person.
âThe most beautiful... in the worldâ should be always taken with the same grain of salt as the announcement that the gas station attendant in Weasels Junction in the Oklahoma panhandle makes the âworldâs best latteâ...SC, Mississippi ¡ The most beautiful man alive? Really? To me he always looked like a sleepy boring guy.
Jack, NC ¡ OOOh... Maybe it was Delon killed and the chauffeur took his place à la Monsieur Ripley? Fantastique, non?
Phil, Connecticut ¡ Thanks to this article, I learned a new French word: âbofâ. As the one-time champion French language student in a statewide competition, I will disclose that this French slang word is equivalent to our âmehâ.
AG, Montreal ¡ In terms of European actors, I always had a crush on Jean-Louis Trintignant...
In American ones, Robert Redford and Richard Chamberlain...Some Anonymous Person, California ¡ Trintignant could understand a script and could actually act.
Roisin, Ireland ¡ I really enjoyed the book and can imagine how difficult and frustrating the research must have been. I loved Chisholmâs âA Waiter in Paris,â the best-selling book of 2025 at my local independent bookstore.
Judy, Gainesville, Florida ¡ I scrolled pretty far down and found many beautiful men mentionedâbut not the French actor Gerard Philippe. He had the same kind of diabolical beauty as Delon, but it bloomed when he smiled.
Blue B, Vancouver ¡ Alain Delon was FANTASTIC. He blew away contemporary actors by miles and would destroy modern actors by miles and miles. His beauty was everything described on this story. His acting prowess was MAGNIFICENT. Some of his best movies were Purple Noon, Rocco and his Brothers, Le Samurai, The Girl on the Motorcycle, LâEclipse, Joy House and more. He may have had a darker side and that side sometimes appeared as a layered veil over these film roles. I think Iâll watch Purple Noon again tonite.
Some Anonymous Person, California ¡ It doesnât matter that he might have killed someone, I guess.
Garfield, Cat Tree ¡ âHe Was the Most Beautiful Man in the World. Did He Kill His Double?â
I was confused by the articleâs title because Iâm still alive and I have killed no one. Itâs a historic piece. I am not Methuselah, I was a kid in 1968. But still, the headline is a bit presumptuous, check out my face.StrongBad, 2002 ¡ Ahem, the most beautiful man in the world is actually Mads Mikkelsen. (I hope my spouse doesnât read this.)
DrDave, Bay Area ¡ Delon of course is a stunningly charismatic presence, even now, so itâs more than a bit disappointing to have such a short review. Not asking to reveal âspoilersâ but a little more fleshing out would be nice. Especially since I just became aware that Delon â despite his association with the Nouvelle Vague â was not just extremely right-wing, but actively so...
Apparently he attributed his maturation from a tortured & aimless adolescence to his time in the French Navy & was regularly described in French media as âa man of the rightâ. Makes his lack of films with Godard understandable. As well as his brilliant performance as a cold-blooded CIA assassin in the still-powerful SCORPIO with Burt Lancaster & Paul Scofield as OSS-era lefty agents disillusioned with the inhumanity of post-68/Prague Spring Brezhnevism. Kind of how Salvador Dali was the lone right-winger among the otherwise politically radical Dada / Surrealists.Oliver, Germany ¡ Sounds like a riveting read!
Last time in France (Strasbourg - Paris), big and beautiful, it felt like looking through the bigotry of the country, how they face up to their history.
Delon appears as an embodiment of his nation, impressive, authoritative but as hollow as anyone else. His son - and his looks tell her was - with Christa Päffgen (Nico) he never recognized and he apparently cared more to fight all paternity claims than about him. Delonâs mother cared for and adopted him.
In the documentary âNICO - ICONâ, a deranged elderly man calls Delon and his family derogatorily âbutchersâ. What did he really mean?Dimitri, MontrĂŠal, France ¡ I am looking forward to reading the book. I have met an old French guy who was working in the French film industry as a horse stuntman and he said to me that Delon was a true professional and a gentleman (still could be a murderer though!)
JGO, Athens, GA ¡ Iâve met American guys much better looking than him. And taller.
Steve, Chelsea ¡ Pretty face but lousy body. Paul Newman had a great body.
Ronald GrĂźnebaum, France ¡ The book subtitle reads âa true storyâ but the article lists quite a few speculations of which most have been dismissed, such as the orgies with the wife of Pompidou who actually only became first lady the year after the murder. Pompidou was Prime Minister at the time.
Looks like another case of someone trying to sell a book.Judy, Luxembourg ¡ Macron hailed him as a âmonumentâ, he could not ignore him therefore he chose a word that hints at a facet of French culture without connoting negatively or positively. A true diplomat.
Bodyman, Santa Cruz, Ca ¡ âRavishing Beauty??â I think not! Most of us know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there is no such thing as the most beautiful man or woman in the World. The idea sells magazines and thatâs about it!
gb, New York ¡ Yes! Look at his eyes in the photo. The lids are drooping and the eyes empty of humanity.
James, Ohio ¡ âwhich may have also featured the first lady of Franceâ
Claude Pompidou was not the first lady of France at the time. She only took that role a year later.Baguioboy, Springfield VA ¡ This is just one of those things as a straight manâIâm told that someone in that photo at the top is the most beautiful man in the world, but thereâs no caption identifying who is who. I honestly canât tell.
Iâm reminded of a story I read once where a producer asked his wife if Sean Connery was sexy enough to play James Bond and she was like âare you kiddingâ? To each his own, I guess.MGS, San Francisco ¡ No one can tell. There are certainly many pictures of Delon than any man would recognize him as beautiful. This isnât one of them.
ADA, Taiwan ¡ Chisholm is maturing into a powerful new writer of historical non-fiction that can ressurect history and place in an evocative and consuming fashion. His tenacity in research shows his dedication to accuracy and fact. I am burning though this latest effort of his much more so than âA Waiter in Parisâ. It has a dark compelling urgency to it that brings to life a time in France when Corsican mobsters and crooked police ruled a society emerging from the grip of De Gaulle and the old trappings of a France of the early 20th century. I look forward to more work by Chisholm in the future.
Van, ny ¡ Sorry, but Delon had the genes to carry it off. Newman was handsome but almost too regular looking.
In Europe a beautiful man is considered too effeminate by coarse U.S. standards.
Delon always had a deeply sad & disturbed expression in his eyes even when being filmed. He worked with exemplary directorsâAntonioni, Visconti, Melville... & these films are amazing.
He loved dogs & is buried in the graveyard of all the dogs he owned for most of his life. The trouble was his wifeâD. had mob connections & did away with the chauffeur because it would seem his ex wife did the cheating first or in response to his cheating. He fancied himself a gangster.
Delon was anti drug so not certain how the NicoâAlain thing happened. When the child was born he disowned paternity. If Nico hadn't been a hard core heroin addict & influenced her son to become one who knows how it would have gone. We in the U.S. all have similar stories about what our parents did to us. There are many details to a person's life & unfortunately I feel this book will be disappointing. It looks like a ploy to get published & earn money. No none of his children actually outshine him. His sister & mother also weren't beauties. It was his grandfather who he resembled gene-wise. It was the prostitutes of Pigalle who insisted he become a movie star.Some Anonymous Person, California ¡ He was not a particularly good actor who happened to work in a few excellent films.
PB, Belgium ¡ Delon has always reminded me of (the picture of) Dorian Gray. He had that cold stone beauty aura, itâs easy to believe he hid a hideous portrait of himself somewhere.
manta666, new york, ny ¡ âDecadent New Wave?â
I donât think so!sean o, madison wi ¡ The French new wave was certainly not decadent!
Goddard? Trauffaut? Decadent? Nonsense! They were hard-working film makers.
âDecadentâ in the 60s describes LA, SF, the London pop/rock/Carnaby St scenes and parts of the NYC art/rock scenes.
But France wasnât very decadent at all. It was too political!Siri K, Phoenix ¡ Sad childhood for Alain Delon. It happens to many children left over from divorce, not belonging to either family as the parents move on to new relationships. Still he was world famous. I loved him as a young teen in The Yellow Rolls Royce and Once a Thief.
In The Know, Somewhere between here & there ¡ Alain Delon was the French James Dean imho. Aloof, cold, sexy but dangerous. His kids are quite gorgeous. But his aloofness didnât play so wellâas he grew older.
Steven, Europe ¡ A spot-on review!
I read the UK edition over the summer and the author really captures the moment of â68 in Paris and Delonâs part in it.
One scene really stood out: when the unknown Delon was cast in the Dickie Greenleaf role in Plein Soleil, he refused and insisted on swapping with Maurice Ronet, then a major star, for the Tom Ripley part. The producerâs wife was present and told her husband - Delon is Ripley. Canât you see? Heâs playing the part right now!cj, San Diego, CA ¡ I recently saw Plein Soleil and fell in love with Alain Delon. Plein Soleil was much better than The Talented Mr. Ripley. In his youth Delon truly was the most beautiful man in the world.
Bo.B, Tarrytown NY ¡ His will specified that his dog be put to death after he died. Fortunately, that part was ignored.
Carol, Jax,FL ¡ His family chose to not honor that request. According to Wikipedia, the dog was not euthanized and buried with him.
A. Anton, Florida ¡ I think the issue with Delonâs look is that he was the pretiest man in the world, pretty being an adjective usually reserved for women. Sean Connery was not pretty, he was beautiful handsome sexy in a very masculine way. The same goes for Paul Newman.
Bogart, brooklyn ¡ Delon was of such perfect beauty, an ideal, that he lacked reality, nothing shows, but what is missing is ominous. [Typified by âLe Samurai.â]
Sean Connery had that voice, to hear it was to be seduced.
What people remember about Paul Newman is the startling blue eyes. Blazing in person, Iâve been told.Anne Keane, Edinburgh ¡ I never found Edinburgh-boy Connery the slightest bit sexy. Each to their own.
Delphine, Bucks County, PA ¡ If weâre speaking of French actors, Louis Jourdan hands down!
Anne Keane, Edinburgh ¡ I like Daniel Auteuil. Conventionally handsome he is not.
Agate Lawson, Florida ¡ I grew up in France until the end of the 60âs when I embraced the Hippie culture and started my trip around the world.
I have known for a long time that Delon was bi-sexual because one of my friends had an affair with him.
I could not believe it when towards the end of his life he started being anti-gay.Paul, Deal, NJ ¡ My partner in crime has a different pick about the Most Beautiful Man in the World. In 1986 she and her friend were on a tour bus in Universal Studios Hollywood when the tour guide pointed out David Hasselhoff riding a golf cart and the driver beeped the horn. David waved, and the bus stopped and David stopped the cart and boarded the bus. âHi everybody, enjoy your dayâ and then he got off. My friend turned to her friend and said, âNobody is that good-looking. He must be a robotâ.
FBA, French Riviera ¡ I have always found Alain Delonâs first ten years in cinema rather impressive. There are just too many classics: Plein Soleil, Rocco e i suoi Fratelli, LâEclisse, Il Gattopardo, MĂŠlodie en sous-sol, Les FĂŠlins, Le SamouraĂŻ, Le Clan des Siciliens, La Piscine, Le Cercle Rouge, and Borsalino - all of that in the span of a single decade (1960 to 1970).
Farid, New Haven, CT ¡ On the set of the superb movie âThe Leopardâ (1963), the director, L. Visconti, recalled that everyone (himself too) was smitten with Delonâs cold beauty and that, on several occasions, he witnessed men queuing up in front of the actorâs studio bedroom. Lies fueled with jealousy, or fact, Delon was for the next two decades the original cinema heartthrob.
woodswomanOR, Oregon ¡ I think the original cinema heartthrob was Rudolph Valentino.
Joan1009, Mexico ¡ I thought my first husband was the most beautiful man in the world. And then he wasnât.
Rosemary Fletcher-Jones, Lymington, U.K. ¡ Alain Delon was never my idea of a âbeautiful manâ (neither was Mr. tRump!). I much preferred Omar Sharif and Sean Connery. If I remember correctly, there was always a suspicion that he was somehow involved in organized crime. Iâd completely forgotten about the murder, but it does seem to confirm that suspicion.
Pedro, Spain ¡ Funny title. If he had a double, then he was not the most beautiful man in the world. There were two of them.
ISWizard, Redondo Beach CA ¡ Body double. Aka stuntman. Doesnât mean they looked alike.
jfbrunet, Paris ¡ Delon has nothing to do with the French New Wave (except paradoxically for his appearance in a late (1990) and incomprehensible film by Godard â who was always good at attracting superstars in his arcane ans rarefied endeavours â called âNew Waveâ).
Guitar, Germantown, Md. ¡ I know. Most US writers think every French movie after 1959 is new wave. I keep seeing Louis Malle lumped in with it too but I find him to be rather mainstream. Now Becker, who pre-dates it is new wave. And Melville gets lumped in as well. Delon started with director Rene Clement who was part of the old guard of French film and probably one of the ones that Truffant criticised in Cahiers.
Sedat Nemli, İstanbul. Turkey ¡ Mme Pompidou, unnamed in this review, did not become First Lady of France until 1969. At the time of the Marcovic affair, Georges Pompidou had recently completed his term as Prime Minister and was campaigning to succeed de Gaulle as President.
Yodan, Madlanta ¡ IDK, I would definitely call Paul Newman beautiful. Then, and still now.
INGRIL, France ¡ Robert Redford, Michael Douglas?
A. Anton, Florida ¡ Beautiful, but not pretty like Delon. Newman is masculine. Delon is almost genderless.
Bob G., San Francisco ¡ Delon was the most beautiful man in the world, but he was very ugly inside. He definitely did kill his double - his own son, Christian Boulogne. The child of Delon and the Velvet Undergroundâs Nico, Christian, looked almost exactly like him. Delon denied paternity for the rest of his life. Christian, rejected by both parents during his childhood, grew up troubled and died of a heroin overdose.
Lou, Anytown, USA ¡ I thought, of that era, Bob Denver (AKA Gilligan) was the most beautiful man in the world.
Julian, Bellingham, WA ¡ Oh, me too! I was only seven, but I thought he was the catâs pajamas!
Gary McElroy, Atlanta ¡ Peter OâToole, circa Lawrence of Arabia, clearly the most beautiful man in the world.
Muni, Anytown, USA ¡ I think it might be a competition between OâToole and Gregory Peck. A difficult choice but I would definitely put them ahead of Delon merely because his cruelty and pettiness shine through his looks.
Kathy, St. Louis ¡ Nah, the most beautiful man in the world was another actor in that film - Omar Sharif!
Boudica votary, Epicenter of Stupid ¡ I would say David Bowie.
Andrew, UK ¡ I think 1960s Terrence Stamp has to be in with a shout.
Ferdinand, San Diego ¡ Much of the discussion here seems to be about whether Alain Delon was the most beautiful man in the world. Iâm more troubled by the second half of the headline.
Markovicâs letter gave police a reason to investigate Delon, but the review itself reports that he had a solid alibi and offers no evidence that he arranged the killing.
What does Delonâs alleged cruelty, or his talent for playing criminals, tell us about who killed Stevan Markovic?
An unsolved murder deserves scrutiny. So does the decision to insinuate guilt about someone who can no longer answer for himself.Patty DeVille, Tempe ¡ This book seems based on a letter and gossip. Iâm in! And the most beautiful man in the world was Paul Newman. I only hope there is a heaven so I can see him for myself.
Brent Caldwell, Charlotte, NC ¡ The author should include more than what was included here to support the idea that Alain Delon was an unseemly murderer before publishing that kind of insinuation. We have what, the letter? Anything else? If not itâs unfair to accuse of a dead man who cannot defend himself of crimes like that.
AG, Montreal ¡ Also, the letter said Delon was responsible, but not in what way. That does not suggest to me that Delon was the killer.
Jean, Paris ¡ I havenât read the book but I assume it also alludes to the mysterious death in Los Angeles in 1966 of Delonâs previous bodyguard, another Yugoslav by the name of Milos Milosevic, whose body was found next to that of his mistress Barbara-Ann Thomason, Mickey Rooneyâs wife. The plot thickens.
David Robertson, Cincinnati ¡ What a ginned-up review. It would have saved a lot of inaccuracies about the French New Wave if the reviewer had realized that there are two types of noir. The first is Noir ĂlĂŠgant, with its emphasis on stylish clothing and manners, and at which Alain Delon excelled. The second is the Street Noir of the New Wave, which is why its directors were sometimes called âdecadentâ by French conservative critics. It would have been better if the the review had stuck to the actual murder rather than the movies.
Candace Kalish, Port Angeles ¡ Belmondo had charm. Delon did not.
Guitar, Germantown, Md. ¡ Neither one had the style or charima of Jean Gabin, though. Even as a geezer, Gabin had that something. He completely dominates every scene in the two or three movies he did with Delon. And how about a shout-out for the great Lino Ventura as well?
Candace Kalish, Port Angeles ¡ Ventura was a star, but Belmondo outshone him in Classe Tous Risques. As for Gabin, he did dominate Delon in every scene they shared, no argument. In fact, itâs hard to imagine anybody stealing a scene from the great Gabin, but Belmondo would have come close. He wasnât handsome, and he lacked Gabinâs presence, but when Belmondo smiled, you couldnât resist his charm.
Bogart, brooklyn ¡ I remember being charmed by Belmondo in my youth, but now, when I see his nose, I am reminded of Bill Maher.
IZ, LA ¡ The year was 1980 and I was at the restaurant Chez Guy in Saint Germain. Next to my table was Belmondo having lunch with his incredibly sexy Brazilian girlfriend. There was electricity in the air, it seemed like everybody stopped eating or even breathing. Although not exactly good looking, Belmondoâs charm and charisma was overwhelming.
Schmoopy, NYC ¡ When I was in high school, my friends and I were walking down 53rd Street. We were gabbing away and not really paying attention. I suddenly walked into the rear view mirror of a truck parked at the curb. My head made a very loud thunk! A man approached me and asked if I was okay. I was fine but embarrassed. As me and my friends continued on, another man stopped us and asked, âDo you know who that was?â referring to the man who showed concern. He said, âThat was Alain Delon!â
ÎŁĎÎşĎÎąĎΡĎ, Above the 49th parallel ¡ Alain Delonâs tough guy portrayals, such as the hitman, Jef Costello, in Jean-Pierre Melvilleâs Le Samourai, were rather one dimensional, but I was astonished at his brillant performance as the effete Baron de Charlus in Un Amour de Swann. He was completely believable as the decadent, but cultured, aristocrat from Proustâs novel. Beneath the handsome exterior there was a talented actor.
Wendy Williams, Massachusestts ¡ Alain Delon was certainly not the most beautiful man in the world. He was, however, quintessentially French. Some people mistake that for beauty.