A Look Back at the Late Mireille Darc, One of the Great Blonde French Sex Icons
The model Mireille Darc made her film acting debut in 1960, in a Balzac adaptation by Claude Barma, and not long thereafter became a sex icon of French cinema alongside the actor Alain Delon, whom she dated and shared screen time with over the next decade. After appearing in around 50 films directed by the likes of Jean-Luc Godard and Roger Vadim, though, a car accident in the ’80s put Darc’s film career temporarily on hold, though though she later turned to TV and tried her hand at directing in the ’90s. Her long career and iconic looks led the then-president of France, Jacques Chirac, to award her the Légion d’honneur in 2006. On Monday, Darc sadly passed away in Paris at age 79, but her influence, like that of the rest of fellow iconic French girls like Brigitte Bardot, whom she was often compared to, will no doubt linger for decades: Her signature blonde bob, for one, is said to be the inspiration for the hairstyle of France’s current first lady, Brigitte Macron. Revisit all her best moments of the actress in their heyday, spent with Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Hardy, and, of course, Delon, here.
Mireille Darc laughing in bed. Photo by Jacques Dejean/Sygma via Getty Images.
Alain Delon and Mireille Darc at the Le Mans automobile race in Le Mans, France in May, 1980. Photo by Francis Apesteguy/Getty Images.
The director Fritz Lang talking with Mireille Darc during the press cocktail of a French film in Paris, France, on October 6, 1965. Photo by Keystone-FranceGamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Mireille Darc in France, 1968 on the Set of the Movie Jeff, directed by Jean Herman. Photo by Jean-Pierre Bonnotte/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Mireille Darc in December, 1966. Photo by Jean-Pierre BONNOTTE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Mireille Darc and Françoise Hardy attending the presentation of Yves Saint Laurent’s new collection in Paris, January 1969. Photo by Keystone-FranceGamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Mireille Darc on a stack of suitcases before leaving for Lebanon before filming external scenes of Georges Lautner’s film The Great Grasshopper) in Orly, France, July 1966. Photo by Keystone-FranceGamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Mireille Darc during 1968 Monte Carlo Rally in Rome, Italy. Photo by Ron Galella/Getty Images.
Mireille Darc In Cannes In 1967. Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images.
Mireille Darc In Rome In 1968. Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images.
Mireille Darc at a fair in France in July, 1973. Photo by Jean-Pierre Bonnotte/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Mireille Darc and Alain Delon leaving the Cote d’Azur to return to Paris by car in September 1968. Photo by Jean-Pierre Donnotte/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Mireille Darc, circa 1970. Photo by Jean-Pierre Bonnotte/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Catherine Deneuve, Alain Delon and Mireille Darc at a performance of the singer Sylvie Vartan in Paris, September 1972. Photo by Keystone-FranceGamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Mireille Darc driving a convertible. Photo by Jacques Dejean/Sygma via Getty Images.
Mireille Darc and the singers Michel Delpech and Serge Lama in the box of Michel Sardou after his concert at the Olympia in Paris, December 1974. Photo by Michel Ginfray/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Mireille Darc in The Pink Telephone by Edouard Molinaro, 1975. Photo by Etienne George/RDA/Getty Images.
Mireille Darc on the set of IMort D’Un Pourri*, directed by Georges Lautner, in Paris, 1977. Photo by Giancarlo BottiI/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Alain Delon with Mireille Darc in France in 1980. Photo by Michel Ginfray/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Mireille Darc and Alain Delon. Photo by Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images.
Romy Schneider with Alain Delon Mireille Darc, Anne Parillaud, and Anthony Delon at the premiere of Pour la Peau d’un Flic, September 1981. Photo by Serge Benhamou/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.
Mireille Darc in New York. Photo by Jean-Pierre Fizet/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images.
Mireille Darc at the Roland Garros tennis tournament in 1986. Photo by Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images.
Mireille Darc at the Classic Automotive Vuitton 2003 at the national domain of Saint Cloud. Photo by Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images.
