Claudia Cardinale, Icon of Italian Cinema, Dies at 87

Claudia Cardinale, the celebrated Italian actor whose beauty, talent, and presence made her one of the defining stars of European cinema in the 1960s and 1970s, has died. She was 87.

Cardinale passed away in Nemours, France, surrounded by her children, her agent Laurent Savry told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Tributes poured in across Europe, with French President Emmanuel Macron calling her “an Italian and global star” whose legacy will live on “in the eternity of cinema.”

Rise to Stardom

Born in Tunis, Tunisia, in 1938 to Sicilian parents, Cardinale grew up expecting to become a teacher. Her path changed at 17, when she entered and won a beauty contest that brought her to the Venice Film Festival. Soon, Italian producers recognized her striking screen presence.

“The fact I’m making movies is just an accident,” she recalled decades later while accepting a lifetime achievement award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002. “When they asked me ‘do you want to be in the movies?’ I said no and they insisted for six months.”

Her early career took off with a breakout role in Mario Monicelli’s 1958 comedy classic Big Deal on Madonna Street, where she played a Sicilian girl in black mourning clothes. Producer Franco Cristaldi, who would later become her husband, helped guide her career as she quickly rose through the ranks of Italian cinema.

Defining Roles

Cardinale’s fame grew throughout the 1960s as she worked with some of Europe’s most renowned directors. In 1963, she captivated audiences in Federico Fellini’s 8½, embodying an ethereal vision of purity opposite Marcello Mastroianni. That same year, she played Angelica Sedara in Luchino Visconti’s lavish epic The Leopard, adapted from the Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa novel. Both performances are regarded as among her finest.

In 1968, she won acclaim for her portrayal of Jill McBain, a reformed prostitute at the heart of Sergio Leone’s sprawling spaghetti western Once Upon a Time in the West. With her mix of strength and vulnerability, Cardinale cemented her place as one of the era’s most versatile actors.

Over the course of her career, she appeared in more than 100 films and television productions. Her screen persona combined elegance with earthiness, and she was often cast as passionate, strong-willed women.

Hollywood and International Work

Though firmly rooted in European cinema, Cardinale also crossed into Hollywood. She starred with Rock Hudson in the 1965 thriller Blindfold, and with Tony Curtis in the comedy Don’t Make Waves (1967). She regarded Richard Brooks’ The Professionals (1966), where she appeared alongside Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Jack Palance, and Robert Ryan, as her best Hollywood film.

Cardinale resisted pressure from studios to commit to exclusive contracts, preferring to maintain her independence and continue making European films. “Because I’m a European actress and I was going there for movies,” she explained in a 2002 interview with The Guardian.

Legacy and Recognition

Over her career, Cardinale worked with an extraordinary roster of directors including Fellini, Visconti, Leone, and Blake Edwards. While often compared to contemporaries like Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot, she forged her own distinct identity, becoming a symbol of Italian cinema’s golden age.

Her voice, naturally deep and accented from growing up in Tunisia, was dubbed in her earliest Italian films. But her charisma and screen presence proved undeniable, leading to a string of memorable performances.

In recognition of her contributions, Cardinale was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival, nearly 40 years after her early appearances there. She also became a goodwill ambassador for UNESCO in 2000, advocating for women’s rights.

Reflecting on her career, she once remarked: “They gave me everything. It’s marvelous to live so many lives. I’ve been living more than 150 lives, totally different women.”

Personal Life

Cardinale married Franco Cristaldi in 1966; the couple divorced in 1975. She later shared her life with Italian director Pasquale Squitieri. She had two children, one with Cristaldi and another with Squitieri.

In her later years, Cardinale continued to appear at film festivals and remained a beloved figure of international cinema, admired not only for her artistry but for her refusal to compromise her independence as an actor.

A Star Remembered

Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli described Cardinale as an actor of “exceptional talent” who helped shape “milestones of Italian cinema.” Her legacy endures in the films that defined a generation and in the influence she had on countless actors who followed.

For audiences around the world, Claudia Cardinale will be remembered as a timeless presence on screen—an actor who embodied elegance, passion, and the magic of cinema itself.

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