/lit/ - Literature

I have a question to do with style. Let's say I am writing a character that I know is French and old. His name is Leon.
Assuming I've already stated that he's old and French, would it be bad form to use those characteristics to refer to him instead of calling him by his name?
For example, would it be wrong to say
>Leon sat down before the TV with the bottle in hand. The old man could hardly remember the last time his son disappeared out of nowhere.
Same goes for blonde, redhead, etc. If I've established that I have a character that's blonde, would it be bad to call her "the blonde" assuming she's the only blonde there instead of repeatedly using her name?