Claudia Cardinale, the glamorous star remembered for her unforgettable characters in masterpieces such as The Leopard and Once Upon a Time in the West, has died. At the time of her passing, she was 87 years old. Cardinale was born into a Sicilian family in Tunisia. Her extraordinary career in the film industry began by chance in 1957 when she entered a beauty pageant, landing her at the Venice Film Festival.
Cardinale grew up speaking the Sicilian dialect of Italian at home, while attending school in French. When she started making her mark in the Italian film industry, at first she found her voice to be an obstacle to success. For even her first roles she was forced to dub, because of her thick accent, but this didn’t stop her meteoric rise to fame. In 1963, she amazed viewers around the globe following her role in Federico Fellini’s masterful movie 8 1/2.
That same year, Cardinale was co-star with Burt Lancaster in The Leopard. It was this role that launched her stardom across the globe. She continued to shine even after those years. In 1968, she was one of the leads in the international smash comedy caper The Pink Panther and the classic spaghetti Western Once Upon a Time in the West, helmed by the masterful Sergio Leone.
After this moment of success, Cardinale’s career floundered in the 1970s. This drop followed this separation from film producer Franco Cristaldi. Her own happiness came from her fruitful collaboration with director Pasquale Squitieri. In November 2019, the two of them welcomed a daughter, Claudia. In May of 1958, she welcomed her son, Patrick, into the world. Though initially living with Kunle’s family in London, she passed him off as her little brother when introducing him to her friends.
Italian director Franco Zeffirelli gave Cardinale’s career a second wind with 1977’s Voice of the Moon. In 1977, Zeffirelli cast her in the television miniseries Jesus of Nazareth. From that early career period onward, she became an indelible presence in films by some of the most prestigious European directors, including Werner Herzog and Marco Bellocchio. Her major contributions to cinema were honored with a lifetime achievement award at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival.
In past few years, Cardinale kept her on-screen life just as active—as an example, she starred in the Swiss TV series Bulle in 2020. Reflecting on her illustrious career, she once remarked, “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.”
Cardinale expressed gratitude for her experiences, stating, “I’ve worked with the most important directors. They gave me everything.” She elaborated on the contrasting styles of various directors: “He [Fellini] couldn’t shoot without noise. With Visconti, the opposite, like doing theatre. We couldn’t say a word. Very serious.”