Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli announced the death of Italian actress Claudia Cardinale at the age of 87.
Cardinale appeared in more than 100 films and television productions, but she was particularly known for her portrayal of youthful innocence in Federico Fellini’s 1963 film,”8½”, where she starred alongside Marcello Mastroianni, according to the Associated Press.
Cardinale passed away in Nemours, France, surrounded by her children, her agent Laurent Savery told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Who was Claudia Cardinale?
Cardinale began her film career at the age of 17 after winning the most beautiful Italian girl award in a Tunis pageant.
She was born in Tunis to parents of Sicilian descent who had emigrated to North Africa.
Cardinale entered the world of cinema in 1957 after winning a beauty pageant in Tunis and being rewarded with a trip to the Venice Film Festival.
After a series of small roles, she shot to international fame in 1963, while also playing a leading role alongside Burt Lancaster in The Leopard that same year.
Her rising fame enabled her to break into Hollywood, where she appeared in the comedy “The Pink Panther” (1963), directed by Blake Edwards, and Sergio Leone’s 1968 film “Once Upon a Time in the West”.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
