Claudia Cardinale, Iconic 1960s Star, Dies at 87

Claudia Cardinale, the Italian screen icon whose career bridged Hollywood and European cinema during the 1960s, has died. She was 87. Cardinale died Tuesday in the French commune of Nemours, near Paris, with her children present, her agent Laurent Savry told Agence France-Presse.

Cardinale's peak coincided with a period when French and Italian cinema captivated audiences worldwide. In English-language films, she is best known as Jill, the reformed prostitute in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), and as the exiled princess who owns the world's biggest diamond in The Pink Panther (1963) with David Niven. In Italy, she starred in Luchino Visconti's The Leopard and Federico Fellini's 8½, performances that helped define European cinema. Her work in the 1960s placed her among the era's most enduring international stars, often sharing the screen with actors such as Henry Fonda, Marcello Mastroianni, Alain Delon and Sean Connery. Cardinale died with her children present this Tuesday in Nemours, near Paris, her agent Laurent Savry said.

Born to a Sicilian family in French Tunisia, Cardinale spoke almost no Italian when she won the 1955 contest to be named “the most beautiful Italian woman in Tunis,” an accolade that helped launch her toward the Venice Film Festival as a reward. She wore her bikini on the Lido and left producers enraptured, yet at that point acting did not tempt her, and she later described herself as young, fierce, modest and almost wild, with little desire to expose herself on film sets. She said in a 2017 interview with Le Monde that she was determined to pursue other ambitions, even as the industry began to notice her.

Cardinale wanted to become a teacher, but at age 19 she was raped by a Frenchman and became pregnant with her son Patrick. To support him, she signed with Italian producer Franco Cristaldi and entered show business in Rome to earn money. She kept Patrick’s identity a secret for years, even from her son, explaining that she filmed while pregnant but hid the truth because of the era’s conventions. She later recalled that the waistband of dresses at the time sat just under the bust, making such concealment possible. She gave birth to Patrick in London after Cristaldi advised discretion and arranged for the birth away from the public eye.

Cardinale's screen debut came in 1958 with a small role in the film Goha, directed by Omar Sharif, and in the same year she appeared in Rome in Big Deal on Madonna Street, a classic ensemble comedy. She continued to work throughout the late 1950s and into the 1960s, balancing Italian productions with international projects. Her collaborations helped define a generation of cinema in which European art-house sensibilities intersected with mainstream Hollywood storytelling.

Her breakout in the English-speaking world solidified with performances in high-profile productions, and she worked with some of the era’s most celebrated leading men. Italy’s The Leopard, Visconti’s sweeping period drama, is frequently cited as a touchstone that influenced later cinematic storytelling in both Europe and the United States; observers have noted its aesthetic and thematic punch as part of the broader 1960s moment that also produced such enduring classics as Fellini’s 8½. Cardinale’s presence in these films helped elevate the status of European cinema on the world stage during a decade defined by cross-border collaborations and genre-bending storytelling.

Savry described Cardinale as leaving "the legacy of a free and inspired woman both as a woman and as an artiste." The sentiments reflect how her career spanned not only romance and glamour but also resilience and artistic integrity in the face of personal and professional challenges.

As film historians look back on her body of work, Cardinale is remembered not only for the iconic characters she portrayed but also for the cultural bridge she helped build between American and European cinema. Her influence extends to the way actors and audiences perceive female star power in the 1960s, a period when global audiences began to embrace a more cosmopolitan sensibility in film.

Claudia Cardinale’s death marks the passing of one of the era’s most lasting icons. Tributes from colleagues and film scholars are expected to reflect on her breadth as an actress who could anchor both art-house prestige and mainstream entertainment, as well as her personal narrative of endurance and reinvention that accompanied a life spent in front of the world’s cameras.