diff --git a/Lib/urllib/request.py b/Lib/urllib/request.py
index d669aec54e1..6c7215219cf 100644
--- a/Lib/urllib/request.py
+++ b/Lib/urllib/request.py
@@ -1471,7 +1471,7 @@ def retrieve(self, url, filename=None, reporthook=None, data=None):
             try:
                 fp = self.open_local_file(url1)
                 hdrs = fp.info()
-                del fp
+                fp.close()
                 return url2pathname(splithost(url1)[1]), hdrs
             except IOError as msg:
                 pass
@@ -1515,8 +1515,6 @@ def retrieve(self, url, filename=None, reporthook=None, data=None):
                 tfp.close()
         finally:
             fp.close()
-        del fp
-        del tfp
 
         # raise exception if actual size does not match content-length header
         if size >= 0 and read < size: