<p>The French actress Nathalie Delon -- once regarded as one of the most beautiful women in the world -- died of cancer on Thursday, her son told AFP on Thursday.</p>.<p>"My mother died this morning at 11 am in Paris, surrounded by her family and friends," actor Anthony Delon said.</p>.<p>"She died from a very fast cancer," he told AFP. She was 79.</p>.<p>Delon shot to international fame in 1967 in the hitman flick "Le Samourai" -- now hailed as a classic -- opposite her then husband, the French screen legend Alain Delon.</p>.<p>But the actress -- who was born Francine Canovas to a Spanish family in Morocco -- was already a star of the gossip columns as the woman who lured Delon away from his longtime lover, film star Romy Schneider.</p>.<p>Nathalie Delon would later have affairs with Hollywood actor Richard Burton and American singer Eddie Fisher -- the father of "Star Wars" actress Carrie Fisher -- both of whom had been married to Elizabeth Taylor.</p>.<p>She met Delon in a Paris nightclub when she was 21 and he was with Schneider, the Austrian-born star of "Sissi" and "What's New Pussycat?"</p>.<p>Delon kept their affair from Schneider before marrying Nathalie in secret in August 1964 and taking off to Los Angeles with her, where she gave birth a month later to their son Anthony.</p>.<p>Although Nathalie Delon was the only woman the notorious womaniser ever married, she later admitted that Schneider haunted their relationship.</p>.<p>"Alain never talked about her, but I would see from time to time a shadow of sadness cross his face," she said later.</p>.<p>Schneider died in 1982, less than a year after her 14-year-old son died after impaling himself accidently on a railing.</p>.<p>Nathalie Delon said she quickly tired of her life with the philandering actor in the Hollywood hills. "I was very naive. He was unfaithful but I wasn't.</p>.<p>"When I left him I left everything behind me. I took my son and the nanny, and that was all."</p>.<p>Delon's own career never got much beyond bit parts in the US, although she continued to live there, returning to France for roles in movies by the auteur Jean-Pierre Melville and Roger Vadim, the man who discovered and then married Brigitte Bardot.</p>.<p>She directed two films herself in the 1980s, "Sweet Lies" and "They Call It An Accident", in which she also starred.</p>.<p>Despite their failed marriage, she always remained friendly with Delon, and their son posted a photo of them celebrating Christmas together last month.</p>.<p>Delon, now 85, has also been unwell of late, suffering a stroke last year.</p>
<p>The French actress Nathalie Delon -- once regarded as one of the most beautiful women in the world -- died of cancer on Thursday, her son told AFP on Thursday.</p>.<p>"My mother died this morning at 11 am in Paris, surrounded by her family and friends," actor Anthony Delon said.</p>.<p>"She died from a very fast cancer," he told AFP. She was 79.</p>.<p>Delon shot to international fame in 1967 in the hitman flick "Le Samourai" -- now hailed as a classic -- opposite her then husband, the French screen legend Alain Delon.</p>.<p>But the actress -- who was born Francine Canovas to a Spanish family in Morocco -- was already a star of the gossip columns as the woman who lured Delon away from his longtime lover, film star Romy Schneider.</p>.<p>Nathalie Delon would later have affairs with Hollywood actor Richard Burton and American singer Eddie Fisher -- the father of "Star Wars" actress Carrie Fisher -- both of whom had been married to Elizabeth Taylor.</p>.<p>She met Delon in a Paris nightclub when she was 21 and he was with Schneider, the Austrian-born star of "Sissi" and "What's New Pussycat?"</p>.<p>Delon kept their affair from Schneider before marrying Nathalie in secret in August 1964 and taking off to Los Angeles with her, where she gave birth a month later to their son Anthony.</p>.<p>Although Nathalie Delon was the only woman the notorious womaniser ever married, she later admitted that Schneider haunted their relationship.</p>.<p>"Alain never talked about her, but I would see from time to time a shadow of sadness cross his face," she said later.</p>.<p>Schneider died in 1982, less than a year after her 14-year-old son died after impaling himself accidently on a railing.</p>.<p>Nathalie Delon said she quickly tired of her life with the philandering actor in the Hollywood hills. "I was very naive. He was unfaithful but I wasn't.</p>.<p>"When I left him I left everything behind me. I took my son and the nanny, and that was all."</p>.<p>Delon's own career never got much beyond bit parts in the US, although she continued to live there, returning to France for roles in movies by the auteur Jean-Pierre Melville and Roger Vadim, the man who discovered and then married Brigitte Bardot.</p>.<p>She directed two films herself in the 1980s, "Sweet Lies" and "They Call It An Accident", in which she also starred.</p>.<p>Despite their failed marriage, she always remained friendly with Delon, and their son posted a photo of them celebrating Christmas together last month.</p>.<p>Delon, now 85, has also been unwell of late, suffering a stroke last year.</p>