Claudia Cardinale: Here’s what the Italian film icon looks like at 86
In a career spanning more than six decades, the enigmatic Claudia Cardinale lit up the screen with her breathtaking presence.
Not planning on becoming one of the greatest actors of the golden age, Cardinale followed the path to stardom, that was oftentimes paved by trauma.
Outliving the now-deceased Hollywood giants that she once shared the screen, and still going strong at 86, she says “cinema saved my life.”
Keep reading to learn more about this starlet and what she’s doing today!
As an iconic actress, Claudia Cardinale has left an indelible mark on Italian and international film. Her talent, beauty, and versatility allowed her to portray a wide range of complex and memorable characters throughout her career.
The Tunisian-born Italian actor was studying to be a teacher when she was discovered at 18. The glossy-haired, French-speaking young woman was taken in by the pageantry of an Italian film festival, when she was pulled from the crowd and crowned Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia.
“I was helping my mother and people from the Italian government organize an Italian film festival in Tunisia. I was looking at the girls on the stage and I wasn’t supposed to be there. Someone pushed me out on the stage and I was named the Most Beautiful Girl in Tunisia,” she said.
The prize was a trip to the Venice film festival, a foretelling adventure for the young woman, who received many offers from producers.
Initially turning down the offers, Cardinale explained in an interview, “It’s like a man. When he’s going after you, if you say yes immediately, after a little time he goes away. If you say no, he desires you for a long time.”
The reason she rejected most offers, was because she was pregnant.
But there was one producer whom she couldn’t refuse. Franco Cristaldi, a prominent Italian producer, credited with feature films from the 1950s to the 1990s, captured the interest of the young Cardinale and signed her under an 18-year contract.
There was also a personal contract, the pair married and Cristaldi, sculpting her into an Italian Brigitte Bardot, took full control, dictating her movie roles, hairstyle, weight, and social life.
Her pregnancy, Cristaldi demanded, be kept a secret.
As for her son, it was announced that he was her younger brother.
Under Cristaldi’s management, Cardinale had a few minor roles in Italian films, and noticed for her performances, she was referred to as “Italy’s sweetheart.”
In 1958, she had her big break with a leading role in the romantic comedy, Three Strangers in Rome. Working seven months into her pregnancy–which under Cristaldi’s direction she continued to keep a secret–Cardinale became depressed and had suicidal thoughts, pleading with her manager to terminate the contract.
Instead, Cristaldi shipped her to London, away from the press, falsely saying she was away learning English for a role.
In 1975, her baby Patrick was born, a child she said was fathered by an unidentified man, who raped her. Patrick’s identity as her son, was kept a secret until he turned 19.
‘Violent truth’
In 2017, Cardinale opened up to Enzo Biagi, an Italian journalist, and shared with him the violent truth behind her pregnancy, “A man I didn’t know, much older than me, forced me to go up to car and raped me. It was terrible, but the most beautiful thing is that my wonderful Patrick was born from that violence. In fact, although it was a very complicated situation for a single mother, I decided not to have an abortion.”
