Althouse: Claudia Cardinale.

September 24, 2025

Claudia Cardinale.

1938-2025.

27 comments:

Wilbur said...: I remember in The Professionals, a 60s western flick.
Ooh, hoo, hoo.; 9/24/25, 8:44 AM
Leland said...: She had great genes and actually lived in fascist Italy.; 9/24/25, 8:59 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Wikipedia: "Claudia Cardinale was born Claude Joséphine Rose Cardinale in La Goulette, a port municipality near Tunis, in the French protectorate of Tunisia, on 15 April 1938. Her father, Francesco Cardinale, was a railway worker, born in Gela, Sicily. Her mother, Yolande Greco, was born in the then Italian Tripolitania to Sicilian parents emigrants from Trapani, where they owned a small shipbuilding firm. They later settled in La Goulette, which had a large Italian community. At home she spoke French only, but also spoke the Sicilian language of her parents. She did not learn to speak a word of Italian until she started being cast in Italian films."; 9/24/25, 9:05 AM
Leland said...: Ah, so she didn't live in fascist Italy.; 9/24/25, 9:09 AM
Big Mike said...: Her acting in “Once Upon a Time in the West” was magnificent.; 9/24/25, 9:15 AM
Howard said...: If that doesn't put lead in your pencil, you are batting for team Tyler; 9/24/25, 9:23 AM
buwaya said...: Il Gattopardo (The Leopard); 9/24/25, 9:27 AM
mikee said...: Once Upon A Time In The West, with Charles Bronson in the best opening scene of any western ever, and Claudia Cardinale being wonderful throughout.; 9/24/25, 9:30 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Here's a quick outline of how WWII affected Tunisia, especially La Goulette: https://chatgpt.com/s/t_68d402e153b081918659fbf847b87fca; 9/24/25, 9:41 AM
Yancey Ward said...: First movie I ever saw her in was The Pink Panther when I was 8 or 9 years old. She was mesmerizingly beautiful. Not long after that I saw Once Upon A Time In The West. I think I have seen almost every single film she made in the 1960s and she always stands out in them. RIP.; 9/24/25, 9:43 AM
Aggie said...: I worked for about 4 years in Tunisia, down further south towards Libya. One of the local hotels was a headquarters for Rommel, I used to frequent a restaurant there that had terrific food. It's an interesting country, a lot of cultural norms that shouldn't exist together, but do.; 9/24/25, 9:55 AM
FWBuff said...: She was wonderful in "8 1/2". So beautiful and serene. She was preceded in death just last year by Anouk Aimee, another beautiful Fellini actress.; 9/24/25, 10:22 AM
Iman said...: What a lovely woman.; 9/24/25, 10:46 AM
Wince said...: A classy dame. RIP; 9/24/25, 11:05 AM
Rocco said...: Ann Althouse said...
“Wikipedia: Claudia Cardinale was born … in La Goulette, a port municipality near Tunis, in the French protectorate of Tunisia…

French traders began to establish trading ports around Tunis centuries ago. Later during the Renaissance, Northern Italian traders from Venice, Genoa, Florence, etc began to establish colonies there, creating the Italian Quarter. Later still starting in the early 1800s, Sicilians and Southern Italians began to move in as well.

“Her mother, Yolande Greco…

Greco is a not uncommon surname, pointing to Greek ancestry that reflects on the long history of connections between the boot and Greece.

“At home she spoke French only, but also spoke the Sicilian language of her parents. She did not learn to speak a word of Italian until she started being cast in Italian films.”

Linguistics has the saying “A language is a dialect with an army.” Standard Castilian Spanish and standard European Portuguese are somewhat closer to each other than Sicilian is to standard Florentine Italian. But Spain and Portugal are separate countries, whereas Sicily is a regione of Italy. Modern Sicilians usually speak both, which was not the case when the ancestors of most Sicilian Americans came here.; 9/24/25, 12:53 PM
Rocco said...: Yancey Ward said...
“First movie I ever saw her in was The Pink Panther when I was 8 or 9 years old. She was mesmerizingly beautiful.”

Same here.; 9/24/25, 12:57 PM
FullMoon said...: Coinciding with talk about too many vaccines are obituaries of celebrities in their 80s.
It will be decades before positive, or negative effect, if any, of current vaccine regime has on longevity.
Assuming, of course, humanity survives climate change and nuclear war,; 9/24/25, 1:30 PM
Disparity of Cult said...: Chi bedda fimmina. RIP; 9/24/25, 1:32 PM
Joe Bar said...: Bridgette Bardot & Claudia Cardinale fight scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgRdZSZebA8; 9/24/25, 1:48 PM
grimson said...: Nice video of her from "8 1/2." She also has a memorable dialog in it.

Claudia: I don't understand. He meets a girl that can give him a new life, and he pushes her away?
Guido: Because he no longer believes in it.
Claudia: Because he doesn't know how to love.
Guido: Because it isn't true that a woman can change a man.
Claudia: Because he doesn't know how to love.
Guido: And above all because I don't feel like telling another pile of lies.
Claudia: Because he doesn't know how to love.

As much as I like "8 1/2," I think I will remember her by watching "Big Deal on Madonna Street" on the Criterion Channel. It's an Italian comedy about small time crooks trying to pull off a big heist.
Cardinale has a supporting role, but the movie was a big success, and so her big break.; 9/24/25, 2:52 PM
Leland said...: Definitely, good genes.; 9/24/25, 3:18 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: What a great actress and so many good movies. Big Deal on Madonna Street, The Leopard, Pink Panther, the Professionals, 8 1/2, Once Upon a Time in the west.

Glad she lived so long.; 9/24/25, 5:45 PM
Iman said...: “Greco is a not uncommon surname, pointing to Greek ancestry that reflects on the long history of connections between the boot and Greece.”

She didn’t have a hairy back - as far as I know - so I’m thinking that rules out the Greek ancestry, Rocco.; 9/24/25, 7:15 PM
narciso said...: well Melina Mercouri for one; 9/24/25, 7:27 PM
Disparity of Cult said...: Later, in the other direction, Venetian or Genoese surnames would be Hellenized on Kos, Kalymnos, Chios.; 9/24/25, 9:10 PM
Rocco said...: Iman said...
“[Claudia] didn’t have a hairy back - as far as I know - so I’m thinking that rules out the Greek ancestry.”

She wasn’t 100% Greek. So maybe those genes got shaved off.; 9/24/25, 9:30 PM
PM said...: Deet-deet-dee...Deet-da-dee-doo..Deet-deet-dee....; 9/25/25, 12:10 PM