and was directed by greats such as Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. The actress died at Nemours in France in the company of her children, according to her agent Laurent Savry.

"She leaves us the legacy of a free and inspired woman both as a woman and as an artiste," Savry told AFP news agency. Born in Tunisia to Sicilian parents in April 1938, Cardinale won a beauty contest at 16 that saw her declared "the most beautiful Italian woman in Tunis". The prize was a trip to the Venice film festival, where she was approached by directors and producers to become involved in filmmaking.

She later described her reluctance to abandon her hopes of becoming a teacher to "give this cinema thing a go", in her father's words. Her early career was marked by challenges. She was picking up small roles as a teenager when she was raped by a man she did not know. When she learned that she was seven months pregnant while filming, a mentor convinced her to give birth in secret abroad in London.

For several years, she introduced her son, Patrick, to people as her younger brother. She told French newspaper Le Monde in 2017 that he was the reason for her film career, because she wanted to "earn a living and be independent". Because she had grown up speaking French, Arabic, and her parents' Sicilian dialect, her accent was seen as unacceptable, and her voice was dubbed by other Italian actors. She shot to fame in 1963 when she appeared in Fellini's Oscar-winning 8 1/2 and the epic period drama The Leopard, which became a Visconti classic. While shooting the films simultaneously, Cardinale commuted between Sicily and Rome, and said that she had to dye her hair once a week. She worked in Hollywood in the 1960s, starring in Blake Edwards' The Pink Panther and Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In the West, and appearing with actors including Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson. (BBC/ Los Angeles Times)