Claudia Cardinale, One of the Italian Cinema’s Most Famous Beauties, Dies at 87

Claudia Cardinale, an enchanting presence of the Italian cinema for decades whose beauty was immortalized by Fellini and Visconti, died September 23 near Paris.

Her agent confirmed her death at 87 to AFP, as reported by The New York Times.

Cardinale was considered among Italy’s most beloved and instantly recognizable acting exports, along with Sophia Loren, Anna Magnani and Gina Lollobrigida.

Born April 15, 1938 in Tunis, she worked more than 65 years, propelled into acting after winning a 1957 beauty contest.

She made her first film, “Goha,” with Omar Sharif in 1958, before quickly grabbing headlines for her sultry on-screen appeal and performances in Luchino Visconti’s “Rocco and His Brothers” (1960) and “The Leopard” (1963); “Girl with a Suitcase” (1961); “Cartouche” (1962); and Federico Fellini’s “8-1/2” (1963), the later one of most critically acclaimed and influential films of all time.

In no time at all, she was dubbed “Italy’s girlfriend.”

She was less famous for her U.S. films, but was perhaps most widely seen in the 1963’s “The Pink Panther” with David Niven. She became a leading lady to John Wayne, Rock Hudson, Anthony Quinn, Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, and enjoyed another enduring success with the spaghetti western “Once Upon a Time in the West” (1968).

Cardinale disapproved of the exploitative nature of some of her most successful American parts, and put her foot down when Bob Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde” featured a cheesecake image of her that was used without her permission.

Returning to Europe, she shrugged off sex-kitten roles in favor of meaty parts, winning acclaim and a Donatello for Best Actress for “The Day of the Owl” (1968) and, with her lover, the director Pasquale Squitieri, in “Blood Brothers” (1974), “Corleone” (1978), and “Claretta” (1984).

Cardinale won Best Actress at the 2010 Golden Orange Film Fest for her work in “Signora Enrica” and worked until 2022, including in the Netflix film “Rogue City” (2020).

Her last work was “The Island of Forgiveness” in 2022.

Cardinale was also a capable singer who released records from time to time, including the 1977 disco hit “Love Affair.”

As famous for her advocacy as for her acting and her beauty, Cardinale was an outspoken feminist and UNESCO goodwill ambassador.

Cardinale was preceded in death by Squitieri in 2017. She is survived by her adoptive son with producer Franco Cristaldi and by her daughter with Squitieri.