Claudia Cardinale, the Italian screen legend celebrated for her performances in The Pink Panther, Once Upon a Time in the West, and 8½, has died at the age of 87.
Her agent, Laurent Savry, confirmed to Agence France-Presse that Cardinale passed away Tuesday in Nemours, near Paris.
“She leaves us the legacy of a free and inspired woman, both as an individual and as an artist,” Savry said in a statement.
Italian actress Claudia Cardinale smiled for her fans in May 1963 during the presentation of 8½, directed by Federico Fellini, at the 16th Cannes Film Festival.
The Post has reached out to Cardinale’s agent for comment.
Born in Tunisia on April 15, 1938, Cardinale was discovered at age 16 when she won a local beauty contest. Her prize—a trip to the Venice Film Festival—led to her being spotted by Italian film producers, launching her legendary career.
Italian actress Claudia Cardinale posed at the Museum in Tours on Feb. 14, 2015.
Early in her career, Franco Cristaldi, owner of the production company Vides and later Cardinale’s husband, offered her a seven-year contract. She accepted the offer under difficult personal circumstances, having become pregnant after a traumatic assault.
“One day, as I was walking home from school in Tunis, a man in a car grabbed me and raped me, and I became pregnant,” Cardinale told Variety in 2017. “After that, my mother and sister stayed close to me. I gave birth in London, because at that time it would have been a scandal.”
She added, “We pretended that my son was my little brother. I didn’t want to become an actress; I did it so I could be independent.”
Claudia Cardinale with her son, Patrick, in Rome in April 1967.
Her first film under the Vides contract was the 1958 Italian heist comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street, directed by Mario Monicelli.
Cardinale’s career soared in the 1960s with iconic roles in Austerlitz, 8½, The Leopard, The Pink Panther, Circus World, The Professionals, Once Upon a Time in the West, and many more.
Claudia Cardinale in 1963’s 8½.
In a 2017 Variety interview, Cardinale recalled filming The Leopard and 8½ simultaneously.
“Luchino wanted me dark-haired and Federico wanted me blonde-ish, so I had to change hair color every two weeks,” she said. “It was a magical moment for me. They were very different directors. Being on set with Luchino was like being in the theater; we had rehearsals and all that. With Federico, there was no script—it was all improvised. Those two films really took my career to another level.”
Cardinale continued working in the film industry for six more decades, with notable appearances in Son of the Pink Panther (1993) and Effie Gray (2014).
Claudia Cardinale in “Once Upon a Time in the West.”
Peter Sellers and Claudia Cardinale in The Pink Panther.
Her final film was Ridha Behi’s 2022 Italian-Tunisian drama The Island of Forgiveness.
Cardinale received numerous honors during her career, including an honorary Golden Lion at the 1993 Venice Film Festival and an honorary Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival.
“If you want to practice this craft, you have to have inner strength,” she said in a 2014 interview. “Otherwise, you’ll lose your idea of who you are.”
Cardinale is survived by her two children.
