Profile Text
Cardinale in 2011, photo by PrPhotos
Birth Name: Claude Joséphine Rose Cardinale
Date of Birth: 15 April, 1938
Place of Birth: La Goulette, Tunis, French protectorate of Tunisia (now Tunisia)
Date of Death: 23 September, 2025
Place of Death: Nemours, France
Ethnicity: Sicilian Italian
Claudia Cardinale was an Italian actress. She appeared in some of the most prominent European films of the 1960s and 1970s. Her roles include the films Big Deal on Madonna Street , Rocco and His Brothers , Girl with a Suitcase , Cartouche , 8½ , The Leopard , The Pink Panther (1963), Blindfold , Lost Command , The Professionals (1966), Don’t Make Waves , The Day of the Owl , The Hell with Heroes , A Fine Pair , Once Upon a Time in the West , The Conspirators , The Red Tent , A Girl in Australia , La Scoumoune , One Russian Summer , Blood Brothers (1974), The Immortal Bachelor , Blonde in Black Leather , Corleone / Father of the Godfathers , The Salamander , The Skin (1981), Fitzcarraldo , Henry IV (1984), Claretta , Son of the Pink Panther , Signora Enrica , and The Island of Forgiveness . She won the “Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia” contest in 1957, and subsequently traveled to Italy.
Claudia was born in La Goulette, Tunis. Her father, Francesco Cardinale, was born in Gela, Sicily, Italy, and was a railway worker. Her mother, Yolande Greco, was born in Italian Tripolitania (now western Libya), to Sicilian emigrants, from Trapani. Her native languages were French, Tunisian Arabic, and the Sicilian dialect. She did not learn to speak Italian until she had already begun to be cast in Italian films; and also learned English and Spanish. She attended school in Carthage, Tunisia.
Claudia had a son, who was also formally adopted by her former husband, Italian film producer Franco Cristaldi; and a daughter with her partner, Italian film director and screenwriter Pasquale Squitieri. Her niece is actress Francesca Cardinale.
Claudia’s maternal grandfather was named Gaspare Greco.
Claudia’s maternal grandmother was named Rosa Matera.