French actress, filmmaker Mireille Darc dies at 79

PARIS – French actress Mireille Darc, who performed with some of France’s leading directors and had a long relationship with actor Alain Delon, has died at 79.

French radio Europe-1 and RTL quoted her husband Pascal Deprez as saying she had been in a coma and died Monday. No other details were released.

Darc, with a distinctive blond bob, was long seen as a sex symbol and was a fixture on French screens in the 1960s and 1970s. She performed in some 50 films, including Jean-Luc Godard’s “Weekend” and Yves Robert’s “The Tall Blond with One Black Shoe.” She turned to television series in the 1990s and directed documentaries.

French Culture Minister Francois Nyssen tweeted her praise for “a talented actress, a woman of courage and commitment.”