Claudia Cardinale
Claudia Cardinale (born April 15, 1938) is an Italian actress born in Tunis, Tunisia to Italian parents.
Career
Claudia Cardinale was born Claude Joséphine Rose Cardin. She had her break into films after winning a Tunisian beauty contest in 1957. She made her film debut in Goha (1958) and later that year had a role in the minor international success I soliti ignoti. Her early career was largely managed by producer Franco Cristaldi. Throughout the 1960s she appeared in many Italian or Italian co-financed films including Luchino Visconti's Il Gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963), Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1963), Federico Fellini's 8½ and Sergio Leone's epic Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).
Despite her very feminine appearance, she had a deep voice (for a woman) from an early age, and in her early films she had her voice dubbed by someone else in order to fit better with the characters she would portray.
Cardinale never made a real attempt to break into the American market since she was not interested in leaving Europe for extended periods of time. Her Hollywood films include Circus World (1964), The Pink Panther (1964) Blindfold (1965) and The Hell With Heroes (1968).
A photograph of Cardinale was featured in the original gatefold artwork to Bob Dylan's album Blonde On Blonde in 1966; since the photo was used without Cardinale's permission, the photo was removed from the cover art in later pressings.
She has appeared in more good European movies than most of her contemporaries. Her performance in Visconti's Sandra/Of A Thousand Delights is regarded as mesmerizing, playing a Holocaust survivor with an incestuous relationship with her brother. In Comencini's La Storia (from Elsa Morante's novel), Cardinale plays a widow raising a son during World War II and was another well-received performance.
Other performances that are considered to be great [citation needed] include Valerio Zurlini's Girl With a Suitcase and Mauro Bolognini's Libera.
Cardinale remains active in European cinema, her later films include Qui comincia l'avventura (1975), Fitzcarraldo (1982), Un homme amoureux (1987) and And now... Ladies and Gentlemen (2002)
Personal life
She has been married only once (to Franco Cristaldi) but has been living with film director Pasquale Squitieri since 1975, and has two children. Her son Patrick was born out of wedlock to a mysterious Frenchman when the actress was only 17; Cristaldi adopted him later. She has a daughter (also named Claudia) by Squitieri.
Claudia Cardinale is a liberal with strong political convictions. She is involved in pro-women and pro-gay issues and has frequently stated her pride in her Arab roots - as evidenced by her appearance as herself in the Tunisian film Un été à La Goulette (A Summer in La Goulette). She is involved in many humanitarian causes. She currently calls Paris her home.
Claudia Cardinale wrote an autobiography, Moi Claudia, Toi Claudia. In 2005, she also published a French-language book, Mes Etoiles, about her personal and professional relationships with many of her directors and co-stars through her nearly 50 years in show-business.
Claudia Cardinale is UNESCO good will ambassador for the Defense of Women's Rights since 1999. In 2006 (World Water Year) she has symbolically extended such a role for the Defense of the Rights of the Absolute Woman : Mother Earth while declaring her support for POWERSTOCK, a sustainable electronic music festival that proposes a "water-consciousness" for youth culture and seeks to make sustainability an integral part of mainstream culture.
Claudia Cardinale Filmography:
Actor
2006 Marcello: A Sweet Life
2006 Sergio Leone: The Way I See Things
2002 The Life and Times of Count Luchino Visconti
2002 And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen
1999 Dead Silent
1997 Sous Les Pieds Des Femmes
1995 Un Été à La Goulette
1994 Elles Ne Pensent Qu'à Ça...
1993 Son of the Pink Panther
1992 588 Rue Paradis
1991 Queen of Diamonds
1991 Mayrig
1990 Atto Di Dolore
1989 Hiver 54, L'abbe Pierre
1989 La Revolution Française
1989 Ben Webster: The Brute and the Beautiful
1988 Blue elettrico
1987 A Man in Love
1985 La Storia
1985 La Donna Delle Meraviglie
1984 Henry IV
1984 L'Été Prochain
1983 Stelle Emigranti
1983 Le Ruffian
1983 Princess Daisy
1982 Fitzcarraldo
1982 Le Cadeau
1982 Burden of Dreams
1981 The Salamander
1981 La Pelle
1980 The Immortal Bachelor
1979 The Golden Raiders
1979 Escape to Athena
1978 La Petite Fille En Velours Bleu
1978 L'Arma
1978 Corleone
1977 Jesus of Nazareth
1977 Il Prefetto Di Ferro
1977 Goodbye and Amen
1977 Blonde in Black Leather
1977 La Part du Feu
1976 The Pink Panther Strikes Again
1975 Libera, Amore Mio
1975 Sniper
1975 A Mezzanotte Va la Ronda del Piacere
1974 Gruppo di Famiglia in un Interno
1973 One Russian Summer
1973 I Guappi
1973 Days of Fury
1972 La Scoumoune
1971 Queen of Diamonds
1971 L'Udienza
1971 The Butterfly Affair
1971 Les Petroleuses
1971 Bello Onesto Emigrato Australia Sposerebbe Compaesan...
1970 The Adventures of Gerard
1969 Certo, Certissimo, Anzi . . . Probabile
1969 Nell'Anno Del Signore
1969 The Red Tent
1969 A Fine Pair
1968 Il Giorno Della Civetta
1968 The Hell with Heroes
1968 Once Upon a Time in the West
1967 Don't Make Waves
1967 Una Rosa Per Tutti
1966 The Lost Command
1966 The Professionals
1966 Le Fate
1966 Blindfold
1965 Vaghe Stelle dell'Orsa
1965 Il Magnifico Cornuto
1965 Every Man's Woman
1964 Gli Indifferenti
1964 Circus World
1964 The Pink Panther
1963 8 1/2
1963 The Leopard
1963 The Leopard
1962 Cartouche
1961 Les Lions sont lachés
1961 Senilita
1960 Upstairs and Downstairs
1960 Bell' Antonio
1960 Rocco and His Brothers
1960 I Delfini
1960 Girl with a Suitcase
1960 The Battle of Austerlitz
1960 Vento Del Sud
1960 La Viaccia
1959 Audace Colpo dei Soliti Ignoti
1959 Un Maledetto Imbroglio
1958 Big Deal on Madonna Street
1958 Goha
Claudia Cardinale Quotes
"And also something he [Sergio Leone] was doing, and is the first one, he was doing the music before starting the film. Before each scene he was putting the music of Jill. It was fantastic because you became immediately the person, I mean Jill. I was Jill after the music, the emotion, everything."
"And also, Sergio Leone was considered in Italy a director of category B, not a big director."
"Because I'm a European actress, and I was going there for movies. But then I was coming back to Europe, to Italy."
"And I had a big opportunity with Richard Brooks, The Professionals, which is really a magnificent movie."
"But Luchino wanted to make the point, immediately, that he was the master on the set. And after became very, very close friends."
"Sergio Leone invented totally the way of, you know, the details, the eyes, the hands - fantastic."
"to do this kind of work, you have to be very strong, otherwise you lose your personality, your identity."
"But we did the Pink Panther not in Hollywood, in Italy."
"I've also been doing all the literature, Italian literature. But no, I don't like to repeat very much. I like to float with the camera."
"But to do this kind of work, you have to be very strong, otherwise you lose your personality, your identity. You don't know who you are. It's fantastic because I've been living thousands of lives, not only my life." [on acting]
"Many other movies, but for me The Professionals is the best I did in Hollywood."
"Yes, they wanted me to sign a contract of exclusivity, and I refused."
"If you're not English, you're a foreigner - so you must be sexy. it's an old British cliche."
"I never felt scandal and confession were necessary to be an actress. I've never revealed myself or even my body in films. Mystery is very important."
"When I arrived for my first movie, I couldn't speak a word [of Italian]. I thought I was on the moon. I couldn't understand what they were talking about. And I was speaking in French; in fact I was dubbed. And Federico Fellini was the first one who used my voice. I think I had a very strange voice."
Claudia Cardinale remembers her time working with Leone fondly and particularly likes her character's "grit, and her determination. She knows what she wants and she sticks to it until she gets it. You don't find many women's parts like that in Westerns".
"I don't like the star system. I'm a normal person. I like to live in Europe. I mean, I've been going to Hollywood many, many times, but I didn't want to sign a contract."
Trivia
She has two children: Patrizio, who was born out of wedlock to mysterious Frenchman when she was 17 and later adopted by her longtime companion Pasquale Squitieri, and Claudia, whose biological father is Squitieri.
In 1957, she won a beauty contest, the Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunis. She won a free trip to Venice and was offered movie roles by producers. Initially she refused all of the roles, but then accepted them.
She signed a contract forbidding her to cut her hair, marry or gain weight. Due to this contract, she told everyone that her new born son (out of wedlock) was her baby brother. She did not reveal to the child that he was her son, until he was 19 years old.
Measurements: 37C-23-37 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
Vital statistics in August 1976: 38-24-37.
Member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993
Has lived together with Pasquale Squitieri since 1975.
While her longtime companion lives in Rome, she calls Paris her home due to her popularity in Italy.
Has been UNESCO good will Ambassador for the Defense of Women's Rights since 1999.
As she had a deep voice and spoke Italian with a heavy French accent, her voice was dubbed in her early movies...
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