Claudia Cardinale, the star who didn't want to be an actress: the secret that marked the beginning of her film career

Actress Claudia Cardinale , a legend of European cinema, died on September 23 at the age of 87 in her home in Nemours, south of Paris, accompanied by her two children. The unforgettable star of The Leopard (1963) and muse of 8½ (1963) left behind more than six decades of cinema , a career marked by success, personal struggle and an uncomfortable testimony: she never wanted to be an actress .

Born in Tunisia on April 15, 1938, to a family of Sicilian immigrants , she grew up speaking French, Arabic, and her parents' Sicilian dialect. She arrived in Italy in the late 1950s and quickly became one of the great beauties of European cinema. Her natural charm won over directors such as Visconti, Fellini, and Leone , while at the same time developing a social commitment that led her to become involved in defending women's rights and international causes , and she was named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 1999.

Throughout her career she made more than a hundred films and received some of the most prestigious awards in cinema: the Honorary Golden Lion in Venice (1993), the Golden Bear in Berlin (2002) and the French Legion of Honour in 2008. Even in her later years she maintained her connection with the big screen, being chosen as the image of the 70th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival. in 2017.

The origin: from a contest to a forced decision

Her first success came in 1957 , when she was just 19 years old and won a beauty pageant , "The Most Beautiful Italian Woman in Tunisia," held at the Italian embassy. The prize was a trip to the Venice Film Festival , where she attracted the attention of producers and talent scouts . However, Cardinale rejected their advances : at the time, she didn't want to pursue a career in film and dreamed of a life away from the spotlight.

But her destiny took a tragic turn that same year. The victim of rape, she became pregnant . Facing pressure from those urging her to have an abortion, she decided to go ahead despite the strict moral codes of the time. She sought help from Franco Cristaldi , a renowned producer who had noticed her in Venice. He arranged for her to travel to London to give birth on October 19, 1958, to her son Patrick, whom, on Cristaldi's advice, she introduced as her younger brother. The reason: to prevent this illegitimate child from harming either her reputation or her budding career.

In order to give birth abroad and support her son, she signed a strict exclusivity contract with the producer . Thus, the producer achieved his goal and tied her to the film industry with an agreement that prohibited her from gaining weight, getting married, or even cutting her hair . The protection was so strict that it conditioned her early years as an actress, although it was also the beginning of her rise to fame. Many years later, the actress herself would acknowledge: " If Patrick hadn't been born, I might never have set foot on a film set ."

After years of protection, Cardinale accepted Cristaldi's marriage proposal and they married in Rome on December 28, 1966, although his marriage was not annulled until months later. They remained together until 1975, when she began a relationship with director Pasquale Squitieri , with whom she had her daughter Claudia , born on April 26, 1979. Although she was always discreet about her private life, she maintained close friendships with her co-stars, such as Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo. and received declarations of love from Marcello Mastroianni and Marlon Brando .

Her definitive leap to fame came with The Leopard (1963), directed by Luchino Visconti. Her role as Angelica Sedara, and the famous waltz alongside Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon, made her a global icon . The film, released on March 28, 1963, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and cemented her star status.

That same year, she shot 8½ (1963) with Federico Fellini , where audiences heard her original voice on film for the first time . She played the idealized wife of the protagonist, a Marcello Mastroianni in a state of grace. The film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film and became an absolute classic of the seventh art.

She had already starred in Rocco and His Brothers (1960), also by Visconti, a social drama that showcased her versatility and established her as one of the key performers in Italian cinema. Later, in 1968, she starred in one of the most memorable westerns of all time: Once Upon a Time in the West , by Sergio Leone , in which she played Jill McBain, the central character in an epic story about the arrival of the railroad to the West.

His filmography, of more than 130 titles , also includes hits such as Rufufú da el golpe (1959), his debut in Italy, the comedy The Pink Panther (1963) with Peter Sellers , the extreme filming of Fitzcarraldo (1982) by Werner Herzog set in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, and the award-winning Mussolini's Lover (1984), for which she received the Best Actress award at Venice. She also made her mark in Spain with The Fabulous World of the Circus (1964), filmed between Madrid and Barcelona alongside John Wayne and Rita Hayworth, and, many years later, with The Artist and the Model (2012) by Fernando Trueba, one of her last appearances on the big screen.