Claudia Cardinale, Iconic Italian Screen Star, Dies at 87

Claudia Cardinale, the Italian screen icon whose luminous presence defined 1960s cinema, died yesterday at age 87, according to reports. Across a career that bridged Europe and Hollywood, she became one of cinema’s defining presences, celebrated for both beauty and discipline.

Her filmography in the 1960s read like a cross-section of Italian and international cinema. In Visconti's The Leopard (1963), she delivered one of her most storied entrances, a moment that reportedly halted audiences with a blend of poise and vulnerability. She later shone in Fellini’s 8½, where her appearance to Marcello Mastroianni’s character became an enduring image of the era. Cardinale also balanced light comedy and genre work, including a memorable scene in Blake Edwards’ The Pink Panther (1963) as Princess Dala, and she starred in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West (1969) as Jill McBain, a performance that has been praised for its emotional resonance, particularly in the film’s final sequence in which she helps the laborers building a railroad. Her versatility extended beyond Italy and the United States: Girl With a Suitcase (1961) introduced her to audiences, while The Professionals (1966) paired her with Burt Lancaster and Richard Brooks. She later played in Don’t Make Waves (1967) with Tony Curtis and Sharon Tate. Cardinale’s career also embraced later and different directors, including Jerzy Skolimowski, Werner Herzog, Marco Bellocchio, Manoel de Oliveira, and a reunion with Blake Edwards for Son of the Pink Panther (1993).

Born in Tunis, Cardinale learned French before Italian, a detail that helped her navigate a career across languages. She never performed nude on screen, though she came close in The Magnificent Cuckold (1964) at Venice, a point she referenced as a boundary she set for her work. Her later work included a Netflix thriller Rogue City (2020), adding a modern credit to a career that spanned across decades. Avedon-era photos from 1967, taken during Cardinale’s time in the United States for Don’t Make Waves, captured her as playful and unselfconscious, a reflection of the ease she carried across genres and continents.

Her collaborations with some of cinema’s most distinctive directors helped anchor a cross-cultural career. She worked with Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini and Sergio Leone, among others, and she also moved between Hollywood and European studios, negotiating language and tone with remarkable fluency. Cardinale’s star power extended beyond the screen; her image—often described as both radiant and enigmatic—remains emblematic of an era when European cinema vied with Hollywood for international prestige.

In later years, Cardinale continued to work across genres and platforms, including a 2020 Netflix film that positioned her within a contemporary thriller landscape. Her work has endured in film scholarship and among audiences who remember her not only for beauty but for a grounded, committed craft.

The outpouring of tributes highlighted her influence on how European cinema intersected with Hollywood and how a single performer could embody multiple national film identities. Critics and filmmakers alike credited Cardinale with helping to broaden the range of roles available to leading women in international cinema, breaking through language barriers and reinforcing the idea that a film persona could be both glamorous and historically meaningful.

Her longevity was, in part, a reflection of a career that refused to be pigeonholed. Cardinale’s early successes came as she navigated Italian and American productions, but she did not abandon the languages and locales that first launched her. She remained a constant presence in discussions of cinema history, cited by critics who noted her influence on performance style, star image and cross-cultural collaboration. While she never performed nude on screen, she approached every project with a readiness to push boundaries within the bounds she set for herself, underscoring a professional integrity that continued into later decades, including appearances in films and projects well into the 21st century.

Cardinale’s legacy endures in the way generations of actors approach multilingual storytelling, international co-productions and the blending of art-house prestige with mainstream appeal. Her contributions to classic films such as The Leopard, 8½ and Once Upon a Time in the West remain touchstones of cinema history, and her later work kept her presence relevant in new creative ecosystems. The film community continues to remember her as a luminous, versatile artist whose beauty never eclipsed the depth of her craft.