Actress Claudia Cardinale, an icon of Italian cinema, has died at the age of 87, Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli confirmed on Tuesday.
Cardinale was one of Italy's three great film icons, along with Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida. She had most recently been living near Paris.
The French news agency AFP was the first to report her death, citing Cardinale's agent Laurent Savry.
During her long career, she appeared in more than 100 films and won awards, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Golden Bear at the Berlinale.
Cardinale rose to international fame in the 1960s with films including Federico Fellini's "8 1/2," Luchino Visconti's "The Leopard" and Sergio Leone's Italian Western classic "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."
She made her way to Hollywood and starred alongside the most important actors of her time, including Marcello Mastroianni, Alain Delon, John Wayne and Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Giuli called her "one of the greatest Italian actresses of all time."
His French counterpart, Rachida Dati, also paid tribute to the actress.
"French at heart, a muse to the greats, she embodied with brilliance freedom, strength, and elegance," Dati said on X, recalling Cardinale's "gaze, voice and aura forever part of the history of cinema."
In the last years of her life, Cardinale became less active, appearing in only a few productions. She most recently played supporting roles in the Netflix production "Rogue City" in 2020 and the sophisticated drama "The Island of Forgiveness" in 2022.
Cardinale was born on April 15, 1938 in Tunis, the daughter of Sicilian immigrants. She grew up in Tunisia speaking three languages – French, Arabic and Sicilian. The film diva once described her childhood in the North African country as a "golden age" full of "magical moments."
The star lived with Italian film producer Franco Cristaldi for several years. Her great patron and love was director and film producer Pasquale Squitieri, with whom she had a daughter.
According to her memoirs, her son Patrick Cristaldi, whom she used to pass off as her little brother, was the result of a sexual assault when she was a young woman.
Cardinale was also an activist for women's rights. As a UNESCO ambassador and supporter of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, she campaigned for freedom, independence and female self-determination.
