Hollywood actress Claudia Cardinale dies as tributes paid – Celebrity News – Entertainment

Claudia Cardinale, an award-winning Hollywood actress whose film career spanned over six decades, has passed away.

Cardinale was renowned for her role in Federico Fellini’s 81⁄2, where she portrayed youthful innocence, and for her performance in Luchino Visconti’s acclaimed adaptation of the historical novel The Leopard during the 1960s.

She also starred as a reformed prostitute in Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western Once Upon a Time in the West in 1968, which catapulted her to larger roles in Hollywood. The news of her death emerges as a report lifts the lid on working in Hollywood into your 90s after Robert Redford’s death.

However, her later work focused on Italian and French cinema, earning her numerous awards, including a lifetime achievement award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002 and the Best Actress award at the 47th Antalya “Golden Orange” International Film Festival in Turkey in 2010.

Cardinale passed away at the age of 87 on Tuesday at her home in Nemours, France, surrounded by her loved ones, reports the Mirror.

The starlet began her film career at the tender age of 17 after winning a beauty contest in Tunisia, where she was born to Sicilian parents who had migrated to North Africa. This win brought her to the Venice Film Festival, catching the attention of the Italian film industry.

Prior to entering the beauty contest, she had planned to become a school teacher.

Nevertheless, the self-assured Cardinale was swiftly hailed as Italy’s response to Brigitte Bardot, a French performer who gained fame for depicting characters with indulgent lifestyles during the 1960s.

Though she never reached the same heights as her French counterpart, Cardinale was still regarded as a major talent and collaborated with top-tier directors across Europe and Hollywood.

One of her first notable performances came as a mourning Sicilian woman in the 1958 comedic masterpiece Big Deal on Madonna Street. The film was helmed by Franco Cristaldi, who guided her initial career and became her husband from 1966 to 1975.

Cardinale continued to tackle numerous varied characters throughout her 65-year journey in film, including appearing in The Professionals in 1966 opposite Burt Lancaster, Jack Palance, Robert Ryan and Lee Marvin. She additionally paired with Rock Hudson in the suspenseful comedy Blindfold and another lighthearted feature Don’t Make Waves starring Tony Curtis during the 1960s.

Cardinale shared the screen with David Niven when she embodied Princess Dala in The Pink Panther, which became a beloved success throughout the US.

However, the rebellious young talent returned to European filmmaking after growing disillusioned with Hollywood. During a 2002 conversation with the Guardian, the mother revealed the Hollywood system “wanted me to sign a contract of exclusivity, and I refused. Because I’m a European actress and I was going there for movies.”

In 2000, Cardinale was appointed as a goodwill ambassador for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in defense of women’s rights.

She is survived by her two children, one from her relationship with Cristaldi and another from her later partner, Italian director Pasquale Squitieri.