THE Alain Delonwho died today at the age of 88, was not only a great actor but also a shrewd businessman who managed to exploit his star image and amass a considerable fortune, the amount of which however remains a closely guarded secret.

For 15 years the actor has been regularly auctioning off his art collections, cars and vintage wines. “I prefer to leave cash to my children,” he had explained to AFP in 2017, saying he “hates posthumous sales.”

But how much money does Alain Delon, who was naturalized Swiss in 2000, leave to his three children?

In the last year of the “Angel-Faced Killer”‘s life, trench warfare raged between would-be heirs who, through their lawyers, tried to take over their father’s medical care – a highly publicized “battle”. But the amount of the inheritance remained a secret.

During his successful career Delon amassed a considerable fortune, as he also produced at least 30 films, including Mr. Klein and Borsalino. “The Cheetah” was also a shrewd businessman and, among other things, had established a stable of racehorses. Above all, he capitalized on his very image, promoting the Delon brand.

The luxury goods distribution company he created in 1978 was very successful, selling cigarettes, alcohol and perfume under his name, particularly in Asia. Since 2009, Dior has been using photos of him from the 60s, from the “Pool” period, for the advertisements of the Eau Sauvage fragrance.

However, his real estate remains a mystery, apart from the Duchy estate, which has belonged to him for half a century, since the time he was a couple with the actress Mireille Dark. He preserved only the outbuildings of an old, burnt tower, in the place of which he made a lake, in the middle of a gigantic park of many acres, enclosed by high walls.

When he took Swiss citizenship he owned a property near Geneva.

Delon was an art lover and collected brass animal sculptures by Rembrandt Bugatti. He also had wine collections (Château Latour, Cheval Blanc, Château Lafite…) watches and luxury cars. From 1960 he had started buying paintings.

The sales made before his death give an idea of ​​his wealth. The last major auction, last summer in Paris, fetched him more than eight million euros – including taxes. Among the works sold were a painting by Raoul Dufy (for exactly €1,016,400) and a work by Eugène Delacroix.

Fifteen years earlier, in one of the first sales of his paintings (works by Alesinski, Dubuffet, Hartung, among others) he collected around 9 million euros.

Delon was also an avid gun collector. But a large part of his arsenal, a total of 72 Class A (firearms and war material) and Class B (mainly for sport shooting) weapons and more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition, which he kept in Doushi without declaring them, were found and confiscated by the authorities last February.