Italian actress Claudia Cardinale dies aged 87

Sixties screen siren Claudia Cardinale, who died on Tuesday aged 87, entranced audiences across the globe with the sultry gaze that made her the muse of Luchino Visconti and Federico Fellini.

With her fierce beauty and husky voice, Cardinale not only captivated Italy’s greatest filmmakers, she played opposite most of the leading men of the time, from Burt Lancaster to Alain Delon and Henry Fonda.

She died at Nemours near Paris, in the presence of her children, her agent said, adding that the date and place of her burial had not yet been fixed.

“She leaves us the legacy of a free and inspired woman both as a woman and as an artiste,” Laurent Savry said in a message.

Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli called her “one of the greatest Italian actresses of all time” and said Cardinale embodied “Italian grace”.

Cardinale’s fairy-tale career began as a nightmare.