The China Mail - Mourners bid adieu to French film star Alain Delon

Admirers left flowers as tokens of their appreciation for the movie star, best known for his roles in classics "Purple Noon" (1960) and "Le Samourai" (1967), outside his central French home.

"I was the first one here to put down a rose," said Marc as he bade adieu to his idol.

"What more can I say? French cinema has lost its greatest figure."

"I am very sad," Jean-Pierre Lecluse, who worked as a projectionist at Delon's property for 22 years, told AFP.

"I will never forget all of our memories and the first time I met him. It was memorable," said Lecluse, tearful and calling the actor a "wonderful man, a sacred monster of cinema".

The divisive film star, known to some as a sex symbol and to others as an egotistical chauvinist, had been suffering with lymphoma.

Abel Martin, the mayor of the small village of Douchy-Montcorbon, said "an icon has gone".

The local flower shop, which usually shuts its doors on Sundays, stayed open.

"The phone has been ringing all day, sometimes from very far away," florist Agnes Bourgoin told AFP, who said she got a call from a customer in the south of France.

Bourgoin's retired husband has stepped in to give her a hand with what will likely be a busy week.

An accordion player, who goes by "Titi the accordionist", came to pay a musical tribute to Delon and saluted the "immense actor" -- as he had requested Titi does on the day of his death, the artist told reporters.

- 'Very protected' -

"We hadn't seen him in two years, but he has always been a notable figure in the village," said the mayor, who came to inspect security protocols on site, where dozens of police officers were deployed.

"We used to run into him in shops and restaurants. But everyone has always respected his privacy," Martin added, although he expected fans to flock to Douchy on the day of his passing.

"He was cordial. But he was very protected here, no one would say anything," said Sophie Angevin, a neighbour who cycled to the property to spare a thought for the figure.

"We would sometimes even forget he lived near us," she said.

Sisters Marie and Michele Arnold picked up the phone as soon as they heard the news to drive together a few minutes to drop off white flowers.

"Our brains tend to think that these icons are eternal," said Marie of Delon, whose death fellow 1960s star Brigitte Bardot told AFP left "a huge void that nothing and no one will be able to fill".

"We are bidding goodbye to part of our youth -- it's very sad," added Michele.

U.Feng--ThChM