ADORED Pink Panther and Once Upon A Time In The West actress Claudia Cardinale has died at 87.
The Italian film star died in Nemours, France, surrounded by her children, her agent told French media.
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Cardinale graced more than 100 films and TV productions in glittering career of more than seven decades.
She won a beauty contest in her birthplace of Tunisia, where she was raised by Sicilian parents, at the age of 17.
The prize for that 1957 competition was a trip to the Venice Film Festival – kick-starting her acting career.
She had expected to become a schoolteacher before she entered the beauty contest.
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Her early career was complicated by a secret pregnancy which she said was the result of an abusive relationship.
She gave birth to a son, Patrick, in London in 1958 and passed him off as a younger brother for several years while he was brought up by her parents.
Cardinale gained international fame in 1963 when she starred in both Federico Fellini’s 8-1/2 and The Leopard – at the same time.
Shooting two films simultaneously brought complications, with Cardinale recalling that she had to have different hair colours for the two roles.
Her two most famous roles came in 1968 when she starred in the comedy The Pink Panther and Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West.
The actress herself, however, considered 1966’s The Professionals as the jewel of her Hollywood films.
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Cardinale was admired by many as free-spirited and independent.
She once showed up to a meeting with the Pope wearing a mini skirt – defying Vatican protocol.
When she was awarded a lifetime achievement at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002, she reflected that she acting had been a “marvellous” career.
She said: “I’ve lived more than 150 lives, prostitute, saint, romantic, every kind of woman, and that is marvellous to have this opportunity to change yourself.
“I’ve worked with the most important directors. They gave me everything.”
Cardinale was named a goodwill ambassador for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation for the defence of women’s rights in 2000.
She leaves behind two children.
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