Claudia Cardinale, glamorous star of The Leopard and Once Upon a Time in the West, dies aged 87

Tunisian-born actor worked with the great Italian auteurs of the era, including Visconti, Fellini and Sergio Leone

Claudia Cardinale, a glamorous symbol of post-war Italian cinema who enjoyed a long and varied acting career on film and in the theatre, has died at age 87, according to AFP and other French media.

Raised in Tunisia to a family of Sicilian origin, Cardinale’s introduction to the movie world came in 1957 after she won a beauty contest in Tunis and was rewarded with a trip to the Venice film festival.