Claudia Cardinale

Claude Joséphine Rose Cardinale was born on 15 April 1938 in La Goulette, a port municipality near Tunis, while Tunisia was a French protectorate. Her father, Francesco Cardinale, was an Italian railway worker of French-Piedmontese and Sardinian-Sicilian origins. Her mother, Yolande Greco, was born in Italian Tripolitania to Sardinian-Ligurian parents. La Goulette had a large Italian community, but at home and at school she spoke French and Tunisian Arabic. She did not learn Italian until she began acting in Italian films. As a teenager she was described as "silent, weird and wild", and, like many girls of her generation, she was fascinated by Brigitte Bardot.

She attended the Saint-Joseph-de-l'Apparition school in Carthage with her younger sister Blanche, then studied at the Paul Cambon school with the aim of becoming a teacher. After winning a beauty contest in 1957 she was invited to the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, where she studied under Tina Lattanzi. She struggled with the Italian language and left after her first term.

Her screen career began with René Vautier's short film Anneaux d'or and a small role opposite Omar Sharif in Goha (1958). Signed by Franco Cristaldi's Vides, she broke through in Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958). The 1960s brought Il bell'Antonio, Rocco and His Brothers, Girl with a Suitcase, Cartouche, The Leopard, 8½, Bebo's Girl and The Pink Panther, followed by Hollywood roles in Blindfold, Lost Command, The Professionals and Don't Make Waves. In 1968 she played Jill McBain in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West. Back in Europe she won David di Donatello awards for The Day of the Owl and A Girl in Australia, worked often with her partner Pasquale Squitieri (Blood Brothers, Father of the Godfathers, Claretta) and appeared in Herzog's Fitzcarraldo (1982). She kept working into her eighties, on stage in Tennessee Williams plays, in Signora Enrica (2010), Gebo and the Shadow (2012), Effie Gray (2014), the Swiss series Bulle and Netflix's Rogue City (2020).

Her son Patrick was born when she was a teenager, after a relationship she later described as traumatic. To protect her career, the birth was kept secret and Patrick was raised for his first years as her younger brother, until the journalist Enzo Biagi published the story. Patrick was later adopted by Franco Cristaldi, the producer who managed her career and to whom she was married from 1966 to 1975, although she later said the two never formally married. From 1975 she lived with the director Pasquale Squitieri for 42 years, until his death on 18 February 2017. They had a daughter, Claudia. Her niece Francesca is also an actress. She spoke French, Italian, Sicilian, English, Arabic and Spanish, lived for many years in Paris and was a heavy smoker for most of her life.

Cardinale was a political liberal who supported feminist causes. She was outspoken about women's rights and served as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the defence of women's rights from March 2000, and as goodwill ambassador for UNESCO World Water Day in 2006. Although she lived in France, she insisted on being identified as Italian. She refused nude scenes, saying mystery was essential to an actress.

She is regarded as one of the leading women of Italian cinema alongside Sophia Loren, Monica Vitti, Silvana Mangano, Anna Magnani and Gina Lollobrigida, and at her death she was one of the last surviving stars of the golden age of European film. Her Angelica in The Leopard, the waltz with Burt Lancaster, and her Jill McBain in Once Upon a Time in the West remain among the most famous images in film history. In 2011 the Los Angeles Times Magazine named her among the 50 most beautiful women in film history.

Honours include David di Donatello awards for Best Actress for The Day of the Owl and A Girl in Australia, Nastro d'Argento awards for Bebo's Girl and Claretta, an honorary Golden Lion at the 1993 Venice Film Festival, an Honorary Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival, the Best Actress Golden Orange at the 2010 Antalya festival for Signora Enrica, the Tabernas de Cine award at the Almería Western Film Festival in 2018, and the rank of Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2018.

With Anne Mori she published the autobiography Io Claudia, Tu Claudia in 1995. Her best known films include Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958), Rocco and His Brothers (1960), Girl with a Suitcase (1961), Cartouche (1962), The Leopard (1963), 8½ (1963), The Pink Panther (1963), The Professionals (1966), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), The Red Tent (1969), Fitzcarraldo (1982) and Claretta (1984).

Claudia Cardinale died on 23 September 2025 at the age of 87 at her home in Nemours, Seine-et-Marne, France, surrounded by her children, according to her agent Laurent Savry, who said she left "the legacy of a free and inspired woman". The cause of death was not made public. Tributes came from Italian President Sergio Mattarella, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian culture minister Alessandro Giuli, UNESCO, Antonio Banderas and Anouchka Delon. Her funeral was held at the church of Saint-Roch in Paris.