Claudia Cardinale, beloved 1960s screen icon dubbed ‘Italy’s Girlfriend,’ dies at 87 – who was she?

Claudia Cardinale, the celebrated 1960s screen icon often dubbed “Italy’s Girlfriend,” has died at the age of 87 in Nemours, France. Over a six-decade career, she appeared in more than 150 films, working with legendary directors including Luchino Visconti, Sergio Leone, Federico Fellini, and Blake Edwards, leaving an indelible mark on both Italian and international cinema. Her agent, Laurent Savry, confirmed the death to Agence France-Presse on Tuesday; the cause was not disclosed.

Claudia Cardinale was Marcello Mastroianni’s feminine ideal in Fellini’s 8½, a brothel owner financing a fantastical opera house scheme in Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo, and a widow gunslinger in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West. She also appeared in Blake Edwards’s comedy classic The Pink Panther.

Film critic Massimo Benvegnù noted that while Claudia Cardinale was often grouped with contemporaries Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida as Italian sex symbols, she “was less curvaceous and more girl next door. She was more real.”

What were Claudia Cardinale’s most notable roles?

Claudia Cardinale’s filmography spans both Italian classics and Hollywood productions. She was Marcello Mastroianni’s feminine ideal in Fellini’s 8½, a brothel owner funding a fantastical opera house in Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo, and a widow gunslinger in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West. She also starred in Blake Edwards’s The Pink Panther.

Film critic Massimo Benvegnù observed that, while Cardinale was often grouped with Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida as Italian sex symbols, she “was less curvaceous and more girl next door. She was more real.”

How did Claudia Cardinale begin her career?

Born Claude Joséphine Rose Cardinale on 15 April 1938 in the French protectorate of Tunisia, she was the eldest of four children in a Sicilian immigrant family. At 18, she was crowned “most beautiful Italian girl in Tunisia” in a pageant partly orchestrated by her mother at the Italian embassy. Her prize included a trip to the Venice Film Festival, which brought her immediate attention from the Italian media.

Claudia Cardinale's career accelerated when producer Franco Cristaldi signed her to his studio, Vides Cinematografica, in 1957. Her breakout role came in Mario Monicelli’s I Soliti Ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street), followed by critical acclaim in Fellini’s 8½ and Visconti’s The Leopard. Benvegnù recalled, “Then she just became known as ‘Italy’s girlfriend,’ the girl of your dreams.”

What shaped Claudia Cardinale's personal life?

Claudia Cardinale’s life was marked by resilience and independence. She gave birth to her son, Patrick, in London in 1957, though her parents initially raised him as her brother. She married Cristaldi in Las Vegas in 1966 but later described the marriage as controlling, saying, “I was just an employee, like an office worker,” according to her daughter, Claudia Squitieri.

She later lived with director Pasquale Squitieri, with whom she had a daughter in 1979. They remained together for 40 years until his death in 2017. During this period, Cardinale appeared in almost a dozen of Squitieri’s films and the 1977 television mini-series Jesus of Nazareth.

What made Claudia Cardinale a cinematic icon?

Claudia Cardinale combined beauty, charisma, and rugged independence. Critics praised her ability to hold her own alongside leading men such as Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, and Klaus Kinski. Antonio Monda, artistic director of the Rome Film Festival, said, “There was something free about her, a strong personality that would never be tamed.”

Film historian Vito Zigarrio noted that Claudia Cardinale's roles often “become an icon, something between reality and unreality… this ambiguity between fantasy and reality makes the character very intense.”

How did Claudia Cardinale impact the world off-screen?

In her later years, Claudia Cardinale lived in Nemours with her children, where she established a foundation supporting women and the arts. In 2000, she was named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for her advocacy for women’s rights and education. Her daughter said, “She was always very humble… she always, always, always stopped to sign autographs. She detested the idea of bodyguards; she always wanted to be as close as she could to people.”

In 2023, the Museum of Modern Art in New York hosted a 23-film retrospective of Claudia Cardinale's work, celebrating her enduring influence on cinema.