page_title: Claudia Cardinale
section_title: 1960s
hierarchical_section_title: Claudia Cardinale / Career / 1960s
caption_attribution_description: English: Scene from Il gattopardo (1963).
context_page_description: Claude Joséphine Rose "Claudia" Cardinale is an Italian Tunisian film actress and movie icon who starred in some of the most acclaimed European films of the 1960s and 1970s, mainly Italian or French, but also in many English-language films.
  Born and raised in La Goulette, a neighbourhood of Tunis, Cardinale won the "Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia" competition in 1957, the prize being a trip to Italy, which quickly led to film contracts, due above all to the involvement of Franco Cristaldi, who acted as her mentor for a number of years and later married her. After making her debut in a minor role with Omar Sharif in Goha, Cardinale became one of the best-known actresses in Italy with roles in films such as Rocco and His Brothers, Girl with a Suitcase, Cartouche, The Leopard, and Fellini's 8½. From 1963, Cardinale became known in the United States and Britain following her role in The Pink Panther opposite David Niven.
context_section_description: In 1960, Cardinale starred opposite Marcello Mastroianni in Mauro Bolognini's Golden Leopard-winning drama film Il bell'Antonio. The film marked the start of a fruitful partnership. Cardinale stated that her films with Bolognini were among the most joyful of her career, considering him to be "a great director, a man of rare professional capability, great taste and culture. Beyond that, for me personally, a sensitive and sincere friend."
  In Bolognini's films, thanks to her aesthetic femininity,  Cardinale took roles of manipulative women who lead men to perdition. During the filming of Il bell'Antonio, her co-star Marcello Mastroianni fell in love with her, but she rejected him, as she did not take his love seriously, considering him to be one of those actors who cannot help but fall in love with their co-stars. Mastroianni insisted that his feelings were genuine, even after many years. The genuine empathy between the two actors proved to be ideal for reproducing the tension between the characters in the film. Cardinale next portrayed Pauline Bonaparte in Abel Gance's French film Napoleone ad Austerlitz, and after appearing opposite Gassman and Salvatori in the sequel to Big Deal on Madonna Street, Audace colpo dei soliti ignoti, she portrayed Ginetta, the fiancée of Spiros Focás, alongside Salvatori and Alain Delon in Luchino Visconti's critically acclaimed Rocco and His Brothers. However, her leading performance in Francesco Maselli's Silver Spoon Set gained her most attention during this period. Francesco Freda felt the film paved her way "to great success", noting the "sweetness of her smile" which struck a chord with the public.
  In 1961, Cardinale portrayed a sultry nightclub singer and young mother in Valerio Zurlini's Girl with a Suitcase. As a result of her own experience of early motherhood, Cardinale naturally conveyed the concerns of a teenaged mother, identifying fully with the character of Aida. Such was her psychological involvement that she needed several months to overcome her apprehensions and prepare for the part. Zurlini chose her for such a difficult role against everyone's advice, as she was not yet considered a "real" actress, nor was she (yet) one of the most celebrated Italian beauties. However, he was very close and supportive of Cardinale during the production, and a true friendship developed between the two, based on a deep mutual understanding. Cardinale remarked: "Zurlini was one of those who really love women: he had an almost feminine sensitivity. He could understand me at a glance. He taught me everything, without ever making demands on me. ... He was really very fond of me." Cardinale was warmly praised by the critics for her performance in Girl with a Suitcase, Dennis Schwartz considering her to have been at her "charming best". Later in 1961, Cardinale starred as a prostitute opposite Jean-Paul Belmondo in Bolognini's La Viaccia. Both Girl with a Suitcase and La Viaccia were presented at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival. At the time, Cardinale was not considered comparable to the two divas of Italian cinema, Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida, but several newspapers and magazines including Paris Match began to consider her to be a credible young rival to Brigitte Bardot. Cardinale's 1961 appearances also included Henri Verneuil's French comedy Les Lions sont lâchés, and Auguste in which she had a cameo role.
  The following year, Cardinale starred opposite Jean-Paul Belmondo as Vénus in the 18th-century set adventure Cartouche, which made her a major star in France. She also played Angiolina, the romantic interest of Anthony Franciosa in Bolognini's Senilità, a character which film writer Jacek Klinowski describes as "a spirited and strikingly beautiful twenty-year-old". In 1962, Cardinale was interviewed by the writer Alberto Moravia, who focused exclusively on her sexuality and body image in film, treating her as an object. Cardinale remarked to him: "I used my body as a mask, as a representation of myself". The interview was published in Esquire under the title "The Next Goddess of Love". 
caption: Cardinale with Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon in The Leopard (1963)
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