Anouk Aimee
, the
French film actress
who became an international sex symbol as the aloof, enigmatic and sensual star of
Claude Lelouch
's 1966 romance "
A Man and a Woman
," died on Tuesday at 92. Her death was announced on social media by her daughter, who said her mother died at home in Paris.
Aimee had already made a considerable impression in international film, particularly in
Federico Fellini
's movies "
La Dolce Vita
" (1960), in which she played a sex-hungry Italian socialite, and "8 1/2" (1963), in which she portrayed the lead character's jealous but patient wife.
But it was with "A Man and a Woman", a 28-year-old director's low-budget project that went on to win the Oscar for best foreign film, that she created the image that endured throughout her career. As an emotionally reluctant young widow and movie-industry script girl, she falls in love with a racecar driver and widower played by
Jean-Louis Trintignant
. Their long, long-awaited kiss, enhanced by a circling camera and Francis Lai's hit theme, became one of the era's most revered and recognisable movie images. Aimee was nominated for a best actress Oscar for the role. It also brought her the
Bafta film award
for best foreign actress and the
Golden Globe
for best motion picture actress.
In 2002 she received an honorary Cesar, the French equivalent of the Academy Award, for career achievement. She was named best actress at the 1980 Cannes International Film Festival for a darkly comic role, that of a mentally disturbed woman whose brother hopes she will commit suicide, in the Italian film "Salto nel Vuoto".
Aimee's film career was predominantly European, and her relatively few American films were less than great successes. She was part of the all-star cast of "Ready to Wear" (1994), Robert Altman's poorly received satire about the fashion industry. A quarter-century earlier she had played the title character of the 1969 drama "Justine", directed by George Cukor.
Nicole Francoise Sorya Dreyfus was born on April 27, 1932, in Paris At 13, Francoise was approached by Henri Calef, a director who cast her in 1947 "La Maison Sous la Mer". She was billed simply as Anouk, her character's name. The surname Aimee, the French word for "loved", was added later. Still a teenager, she received international attention as a modern-day Juliet in "The Lovers of Verona" (1951). Aimee had starring roles in Jacques Demy's "Lola" (1961), a New Wave soap opera about a cabaret entertainer, and in his "Model Shop" (1969). She continued to work in European film and TV well into her 80s. "The Best Years of a Life" (2019) was her last film. She married and divorced four times, and is survived by a daughter.
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