LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Claudia Cardinale: Luchino Visconti
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Claudia Cardinale was born Claude Josephine Rose Cardin . She had her break into films after winning a Tunisian beauty contest in 1957. She made her film debut in Goha (1958) and later that year had a role in the minor international success I Soliti ignoti . Her early career was largely managed by producer Franco Cristaldi . Throughout the 1960s she appeared in many Italian or Italian co-financed films including Luchino Visconti 's Il Gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963), Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1963), Federico Fellini 's 8½ and Sergio Leone 's epic Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).
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Screen siren Claudia Cardinale launches a season of films by Luchino Visconti at the NFT. Here she talks to Adrian Wootton about working with the director and leading man Burt Lancaster, as well as the marvellous time she's had working with a host of other stars
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This documentary tells the story of Italian film star, Claudia Cardinale who was discovered by an Italian film executive when she won a competition as "the most beautiful girl in Tunisia. Her prize was a week's stay in Venice, during the film festival and a screen test. Her natural beauty captivated everyone and she has since had a very successful career working with some of Italy's top directors including Luchino Visconti, Fellini and Monicelli.
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CLAUDIA CARDINALE - Born prior to World War II on April 15, 1939 in Italy, she was one of the first Italian sexpots to gain recognition as an accomplished actress as well as her physique. First acclaim came when she appeared in “ BIG DEAL ON MAONNA STREET" in 1958, followed by ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS", "GIRL WITH A SUITCASE" and Fellini's "81/2". She ventured to America and had a busy career in the mid sixties starring in "THE PINK PANTHER", and "CIRCUS WORLD" amongst others while ... returning to Italy to work in THE LEOPARD for Visconti. While residing in Italy she later appeared occasionally in motion pictures and made-for-tv movies. She currently lives in Paris and is rumored to be planning a live theatrical role while in France.
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Claudia ... picked her films wisely and, in contrast to her public image, frequently played fallen women. As Aida in "La Ragazza Con La Valigia" (a.k.a. "Girl With A Suitcase") she was used and dumped by a succession of men, while in "La Viaccia" - a master-work that deserves to be better known - she played a girl in a bordello. She appeared with top European co-stars like Jean-Paul Belmondo and Marcello Mastroianni in superior popular films such as "Cartouche", while also working for directors like Fellini, Bolognini and Visconti in prestigious movies like "Il Gattopardo" (a.k.a. "The Leopard") and "8½". The result is an unusually high proportion of films that stand the test of time.
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In 1963, Cardinale received her widest exposure to date, playing herself -- the object of star Marcello Mastroianni's fantasies -- in Federico Fellini's masterpiece 8 1/2. That same year, she ... appeared in Visconti's epic Il Gattopardo. Their combined success piqued Hollywood's interest, and in 1964 she co-starred in her first American production, Henry Hathaway's Circus World.
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Luchino Visconti