Italian star Claudia Cardinale, known for ‘The Leopard’ and ‘Once Upon a Time in the West,’ dies at 87

Italian screen legend Claudia Cardinale, celebrated for her roles in European cinema classics of the 1960s and 1970s, has died at 87, AFP reported Tuesday, September 23. Her agent Laurent Savry said the actor passed away peacefully at her home in Nemours, France, from natural causes. Cardinale, who had been largely absent from public life since 2022 after complications from a 2019 hip surgery, was remembered by Le Monde as having “faded gracefully,” with no prolonged illness reported. In line with French privacy laws, no autopsy or medical details were disclosed.



Cardinale appeared in more than 100 films and made-for-television productions, but she was best known for embodying youthful purity in Federico Fellini’s “8½” (1963), where she co-starred with Marcello Mastroianni. That same year, she won acclaim as Angelica Sedara in Luchino Visconti’s screen adaptation of “The Leopard.” In 1968, she played a reformed prostitute in Sergio Leone’s iconic spaghetti western “Once Upon a Time in the West.”


Born in Tunis in 1938 to Sicilian parents, Cardinale launched her career at age 17 after winning a beauty contest that led her to the Venice Film Festival. The victory caught the eye of the Italian film industry, propelling her into stardom.

Her early breakthrough came in “Big Deal on Madonna Street” (1958), produced by Franco Cristaldi, who managed her career and later became her husband. With her deep voice and French-accented Italian, her early performances were dubbed, but her striking screen presence and sensuous looks quickly established her as a leading actor of her generation.

Cardinale was often seen as Italy’s answer to Brigitte Bardot, emerging in the wake of Sophia Loren’s international success. While she did not achieve the same level of fame as Loren, she was celebrated for her collaborations with the greatest European and Hollywood directors of the era.

Outside the cinema, Cardinale became a prominent voice for social causes. In 2000, she was named a goodwill ambassador for UNESCO to advocate for women’s rights.

She had two children, one with Cristaldi and a second with her later companion, Italian director Pasquale Squitieri.