Claudia Cardinale, the Tunisian-born Italian star of The Leopard, 8 1/2 and The Pink Panther, has died at the age of 87.
She had a six-decade long career, rising to fame during the golden age of Italian cinema, and was directed by greats such as Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti.
The actress died at Nemours in France in the company of her children, according to her agent Laurent Savry.
She leaves us the legacy of a free and inspired woman both as a woman and as an artiste, Savry told AFP news agency.
Born in Tunisia to Sicilian parents in April 1938, Cardinale won a beauty contest at 16 that saw her declared the most beautiful Italian woman in Tunis.
The prize was a trip to the Venice film festival, where she was approached by directors and producers to become involved in filmmaking.
She later described her reluctance to abandon her hopes of becoming a teacher to give this cinema thing a go, in her father's words.
Her early career was marked by challenges, including being raped by a man she did not know. When she learned that she was seven months pregnant while filming, a mentor convinced her to give birth in secret abroad in London.
For several years, she introduced her son, Patrick, to people as her younger brother. She told French newspaper Le Monde in 2017 that he was the reason for her film career, because she wanted to earn a living and be independent.
Critics praised her as the embodiment of postwar European glamour. Reflecting on her career later, Cardinale recalled: The best compliment I ever got was from actor David Niven while filming The Pink Panther. He said: 'Claudia, along with spaghetti, you're Italy's greatest invention.'
Italy's Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli called her one of the greatest Italian actresses of all time, embodying Italian grace.
