Italian Screen Legend Claudia Cardinale Dies at 87

Claudia Cardinale, the celebrated Italian actress and UNESCO goodwill ambassador, has died in France at the age of 87, just three years shy of her 90th birthday. Her agent, Laurent Savry, confirmed she passed away on 23 September 2025 in Nemours, surrounded by her children. No cause of death was disclosed.

Born in April 1938 in Tunis to Sicilian parents, Cardinale first rose to prominence at 16 when she won a beauty contest and was soon crowned “the most beautiful woman” in Tunisia’s capital. That recognition led her to the Venice Film Festival, where she caught the attention of directors and producers. Originally aspiring to be a teacher, she instead chose cinema, beginning a career that flourished through the 1950s and 1960s.

Cardinale starred in some of Europe’s most acclaimed films, including Goha, Girl with a Suitcase, The Leopard, 8½ and The Pink Panther. Federico Fellini cast her as the dream muse of his alter ego in 8½ (1963), while Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard paired her with Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon in a role immortalized by a lavish waltz sequence. By the late 1960s, she achieved international recognition with Sergio Leone’s epic western Once Upon a Time in the West.

Unlike many contemporaries, she largely stepped away from Hollywood, focusing on European cinema. Cardinale received France’s highest honor in 1999 and often spoke candidly about her career and the pressures of her era.

She is survived by her son, Patrick Cristaldi, and daughter, writer Claudia Squitieri.