ROME:

Claudia Cardinale, a glamorous symbol of post-war Italian cinema who enjoyed a long and varied acting career on film and in the theatre, has died at age 87, according to AFP and other French media.

Cardinale died on Tuesday near Paris "in the presence of her children," her agent Laurent Savry said in a message sent to AFP. "She leaves us the legacy of a free and inspired woman," Savry added.

Raised in Tunisia to a family of Sicilian origin, Cardinale's introduction to the movie world came in 1957 after she won a beauty contest in Tunis and was rewarded with a trip to the Venice film festival.

Her voice had to be dubbed for her first Italian screen roles because she had grown up in a family where Sicilian dialect was spoken and had been educated at a French-speaking school.

Her e

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