‘Pink Panther’ and ‘8 1/2’ actress was 87

Claudia Cardinale, the Italian movie star known for the films “Once Upon a Time in the West” and “The Pink Panther,” has died. She was 87.

Cardinale died on Tuesday, Sept. 23, in Nemours, France. Her agent, Laurent Savry, confirmed her death in an email to USA TODAY on Wednesday, Sept. 24. A cause of death was not shared.

Born in 1938 in Tunisia, she first garnered attention after winning a “Most Beautiful Girl in Tunisia” competition in 1957. The recognition soon led to roles in Italy in the late 1950s and 1960s, in the films “Goha,” “Rocco and His Brothers,” “Girl with a Suitcase” and “The Leopard.” By 1963, the actress starred as herself in Federico Fellini‘s Oscar-winning arthouse hit “8½,” a film that would go on to become influential on American film.

But it was her roles in 1963’s touchstone comedy “The Pink Panther” as Princess Dala opposite Peter Sellers’ Inspector Jacques Clouseau, and in the 1968 defining spaghetti Western “Once Upon a Time in the West” as the resilient widow Jill McBain opposite Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson and Jason Robards, that brought Cardinale into the American zeitgeist.

Cardinale continued moving between Hollywood and Europe, starring in other American films like the 1966 Western “The Professionals.”

Cardinale left Hollywood behind in 1969, starring in European films nearly exclusively, most notably in 1982’s epic adventure-drama film “Fitzcarraldo.”

She was awarded the Golden Lion lifetime achievement award at the Venice Film Festival in 1993 and the Golden Bear lifetime achievement award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002. In 1999, she was awarded the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest national order.

A women’s rights proponent, Cardinate was named a UNESCO goodwill ambassador for her advocacy in 2000.

The star continued working through the early 2020s, including in the Netflix French crime film “Rogue City” and the 2022 Tunisian-Italian drama “The Island of Forgiveness.”

She is survived by two children, Patrick Cristaldi and author Claudia Squitieri.