Claudia Cardinale, the Italian movie star known for her captivating performances in The Leopard , 8½ , and Once Upon a Time in the West , has died at the age of 87.

Cardinale died in Nemours, France, with her children by her side. Her agent, Laurent Savry, confirmed the news to Agence France-Presse on Tuesday. The cause of death was not immediately available.

Born in Tunis on April 15, 1938, to Francesco Cardinale and Yolanda Greco, both Sicilian immigrants, Cardinale was raised speaking French, Arabic, and Sicilian dialect. At 18, she was crowned the “Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia” at a beauty contest and won a trip to the Venice Film Festival, where she enthralled Italian media and various filmmakers.

When she was a teenager, she was raped by a film producer and beca

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