Claudia Cardinale, screen icon of ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’, dies at 87

Claudia Cardinale, the Tunisian-born Italian actor who became one of the defining faces of European cinema in the 1960s and 70s, has died at the age of 87.

Her agent, Laurent Savry, confirmed she passed away in Nemours, France, surrounded by her children.

Across a career spanning more than 150 films, Cardinale embodied an era of glamour, grit, and artistic brilliance. She was hailed as "Italy's girlfriend" and "dream girl" in her homeland, revered not just for her beauty but for a body of work that helped shape postwar European cinema.

Cardinale's breakthrough came in 1963 with two career-defining roles: the enigmatic muse in Federico Fellini's "8½", opposite Marcello Mastroianni, and Angelica Sedara in Luchino Visconti's adaptation of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's "The Leopard". Five years later, she achieved international recognition as Jill McBain, the reformed prostitute in Sergio Leone's operatic western "Once Upon a Time in the West".

Born in Tunis in 1938 to Sicilian parents, Cardinale first entered the public eye at 17 after winning a beauty contest that led her to the Venice Film Festival. Film studios in Rome quickly recognised her star power, and by the early 1960s she was positioned as Italy's answer to Brigitte Bardot, while Sophia Loren was already conquering Hollywood.

Although she appeared in major English-language films, Cardinale resisted pressure to abandon Europe for Hollywood. "They wanted me to sign a contract of exclusivity, and I refused," she told The Guardian in 2002. "Because I'm a European actress and I was going there for movies."

Her dedication to European cinema never waned. Cardinale went on to win the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival in 1993, nearly four decades after her debut there. In 2000, she was appointed a UNESCO goodwill ambassador, using her fame to champion women's rights.