Cardinale worked with some of Italy's greatest directors in a movie career that spanned six decades.Claudia Cardinale, the legendary Italian actress who starred in 1960s film classics Il Gattopardo and Pink Panther, died on Tuesday aged 87 in Nemours, France.Cardinale achieved international fame in the 1960s and 1970s when she established herself as a style icon and one of the most beautiful and celebrated actresses in the world, with an impact on pop culture comparable only to that of her peers Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren. She collaborated with some of the most important directors of the time, including Luchino Visconti, Sergio Leone, Mario Monicelli and Federico Fellini. Born in Tunisia on 15 April 1938, Cardinale grew up speaking French and the Sicilian dialect of her parents. She did not learn Italian until she began her film career. Cardinale's path to acting began when she won the 'Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia' contest in 1957, having been entered in the competition without her knowledge by a teacher at her school. The prize was a trip to the Venice Film Festival, which led her to pursue a career in cinema, despite her initial plans to become a teacher. She made her screen debut in 1958 alongside Omar Sharif in Goha and later that year in Mario Monicelli's Soliti Ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street), alongside Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni and Totò. At the age of 19 Cardinale was raped and became pregnant, giving birth in secret in London to a boy she named Patrick. To protect her career, she was advised to pretend the baby was her little brother, telling Le Monde in 2017: "I did it for him, for Patrick, the child I wanted to keep despite the circumstances and the enormous scandal". Claudia Cardinale alongside Alain Delon in Il Gattopardo   The 1960s were considered her golden era, particularly 1963 when she found herself acting simultaneously in two major films by two rival Italian directors: Visconti's Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) and Fellini's 8½. In spite of the difficulties of juggling two different sets, things worked out very well: Il Gattopardo won the Palme d'Or at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, while 8½ scooped the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1964. 8½ also marked the first film in which Cardinale was not dubbed - on the insistence of Fellini - allowing her to fully express her unmistakable raspy voice. She also gained international recognition for her roles in Hollywood films including Blake Edwards' The Pink Panther (1963) and Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), and appearing with actors including Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda. After separating from film producer Franco Cristaldi in the early 1970s, she began a life-long relationship with Neapolitan director Pasquale Squitieri, with whom she had a daughter named Claudia. From the 1980s onwards, Cardinale diversified her career, choosing roles in smaller, less commercial film projects. Cardinale appeared in more than 150 films during her six-decade career, the last of which was Forgiveness Island (2022) by Tunisian director Ridha Behi. She won five David di Donatello Awards as well as receiving lifetime achievement awards including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1993 and the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002. Italy's culture minister Alessandro Giuli on Tuesday paid tribute to Cardinale as "one of the greatest Italian actresses of all time" who embodied "an all-Italian grace and a unique beauty". Image: Claudia Cardinale at Cannes Film Festival in 2018. Photo credit: taniavolobueva / Shutterstock.com.

Claudia Cardinale, the legendary Italian actress who starred in 1960s film classics Il Gattopardo and Pink Panther, died on Tuesday aged 87 in Nemours, France. Cardinale achieved international fame in the 1960s and 1970s when she established herself as a style icon and one of the most beautiful and celebrated actresses in the world, with an impact on pop culture comparable only to that of her peers and . She collaborated with some of the most important directors of the time, including Luchino Visconti, Sergio Leone, Mario Monicelli and . Born in Tunisia on 15 April 1938, Cardinale grew up speaking French and the Sicilian dialect of her parents. She did not learn Italian until she began her film career. Cardinale's path to acting began when she won the 'Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia' contest in 1957, having been entered in the competition without her knowledge by a teacher at her school. The prize was a trip to the Venice Film Festival, which led her to pursue a career in cinema, despite her initial plans to become a teacher. She made her screen debut in 1958 alongside Omar Sharif in Goha and later that year in Mario Monicelli's Soliti Ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street), alongside Vittorio Gassman, and Totò. At the age of 19 Cardinale was raped and became pregnant, giving birth in secret in London to a boy she named Patrick. To protect her career, she was advised to pretend the baby was her little brother, telling Le Monde in 2017: "I did it for him, for Patrick, the child I wanted to keep despite the circumstances and the enormous scandal".
Claudia Cardinale alongside Alain Delon in Il Gattopardo   The 1960s were considered her golden era, particularly 1963 when she found herself acting simultaneously in two major films by two rival Italian directors: Visconti's Il Gattopardo () and Fellini's 8½. In spite of the difficulties of juggling two different sets, things worked out very well: Il Gattopardo won the Palme d'Or at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, while 8½ scooped the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1964. 8½ also marked the first film in which Cardinale was not dubbed - on the insistence of Fellini - allowing her to fully express her unmistakable raspy voice. She also gained international recognition for her roles in Hollywood films including Blake Edwards' The Pink Panther (1963) and Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), and appearing with actors including Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda. After separating from film producer Franco Cristaldi in the early 1970s, she began a life-long relationship with Neapolitan director Pasquale Squitieri, with whom she had a daughter named Claudia. From the 1980s onwards, Cardinale diversified her career, choosing roles in smaller, less commercial film projects. Cardinale appeared in more than 150 films during her six-decade career, the last of which was Forgiveness Island (2022) by Tunisian director Ridha Behi. She won five David di Donatello Awards as well as receiving lifetime achievement awards including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1993 and the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002. Italy's culture minister Alessandro Giuli on Tuesday paid tribute to Cardinale as "one of the greatest Italian actresses of all time" who embodied "an all-Italian grace and a unique beauty".