Claudia Cardinale in memoriam: ‘Italy’s greatest invention’ concludes essential chapter in cinema’s history

Claudia Cardinale breathed her last in France, September 23, surrounded by her loved ones and commemorated by her agent Laurent Savry as “a free and inspired woman” while announcing the news.

Though she was a screen legend adored and admired by many, her own favourite among all the compliments she had ever received was a witty one-liner from David Niven, her co-star in 1963’s The Pink Panther.

“He said: ‘Claudia, along with spaghetti, you’re Italy’s greatest invention,” Cardinale once recalled.

And leaving behind a legacy filled with triumphant moments — on screen and off — the Tunisian-born Italian actress remained so right until the end.

Diamond in the Rough

A 16-year-old Claudia Cardinale was crowned “The most beautiful Italian woman in Tunis” and won the grand prize of a trip to the Venice Film Festival.

Hesitant to embrace the world of glamour, she was finally convinced by her father to “give this cinema thing a go”.

Soon after accepting the advice, the late actress fell prey to a sexual assault and secretly gave birth to a son in London, on the advice of a mentor, to protect her career.

Thus the career which she never desired, Cardinale bravely made her own after facing a harsh obstacle in its early path.

“I did it for him, for Patrick, the child I wanted to keep despite the circumstances and the enormous scandal,” she told French publication Le Monde in 2017.

Italian Grace

Despite not speaking a word of the language initially, Claudia Cardinale became an everlasting part of Italian heritage — claimed by her people as such.

Being dubbed by others in her earliest roles and first encouraged by Italian auteur Federico Fellini to use her own voice, when he cast Cardinale in the Oscar winning 8 ½, the actress came to be inseparable from the homeland of her Sicilian parents, from whom she only inherited their own dialect.

Having been ostracised from the industry when she left influential producer Franco Cristaldi for her “only love”, director Pasquale Squitieri, the European beauty went on to overcome that impediment in the same fashion she did so many others (“I discovered I had no money in my bank account,” she once recalled about that period) and continued to act prolifically, appearing in various projects until 2022, well into her octogenarian years.

Described by Italy’s Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli as the embodiment of “Italian grace”, the actress’ recognition as such is perhaps a testament to every extraordinary mount she came to conquer, despite her adversaries.

“I’ve lived more than 150 lives: prostitute, saint, romantic, every kind of woman, and that is marvellous to have this opportunity to change yourself,” — Claudia Cardinale, Berlin Film Festival 2002.