On Sunday evening, Czech television recalled the not-so-well-known western “Petrolejářky”, whose star heroines are actually Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale. Both of them show off not only their wide acting repertoire, but also their unmistakable charms as tough rivals. Of course, there are times when both were considered “sex symbols” and men lay at their feet.
While Brigitte said goodbye to the world of show business a long time ago and devotes all her energy to rescuing animals, Claudia, who will celebrate her eighty-fifth birthday this April, surprisingly still makes films. She herself boasts that she has not undergone any plastic surgery or lifting, and it shows at first glance. It is perhaps surprising that a woman who was one of the most beautiful women on the screen turns out to be a wrinkled old lady who clearly does not take much care of her appearance. On the contrary, she boasts that she can do what she wants, move freely, smoke and not restrict herself in food, all the more so since the contracts previously forbade her to gain weight.
Jacket Belmondo
Although it no longer has its former dazzling exterior, it continues to travel around film festivals and with pleasure collects various awards for its contribution to world cinema. Of course, this is indisputable. Despite being cast primarily for her looks, she has starred in some excellent films that are truly gems. She filmed with the best directors of her time, whether it was Luchino Visconti (Cheetah), Federico Fellini (Eight and a Half) or Sergio Leone (Once Upon a Time in the West). Little is known that she was the female equivalent of Jean Paul Belmond, with whom she also acted. Thanks to her roles in adventure films, she was not afraid to personally undergo dangerous scenes, and it is said that thanks to her exotic origin, she also excelled in filming in difficult conditions, for example in the Amazon rainforest.
A shining superstar at the IFF
As a radiant superstar of the first magnitude, she visited the International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary in 1964, and one can hardly imagine a more stellar exit from the plane than the one she performed for her fans at the airport there. While today’s actors arrive at the IFF mostly in comfortable sportswear and are deliberately often unrecognizable, Claudia emerged in an elegant model and behaved as if she were posing for a fashion magazine. Pictures of her with the popular giant goblets in the famous Moser “glass factory of the kings” or with donated Czech jewelry went around the world.
Always with smile
Coincidentally, the Czech audience could also see her at the end of her career, as ten years ago she participated in the “Czech Miss” competition as the former “Miss Tunis” and crowned the new beauty queen. According to behind-the-scenes information, she behaved very modestly and friendly, refused the services of hairdressers and make-up artists, and the only thing she insisted on was the possibility of smoking. Without stellar manners, she answered questions from journalists and admitted to them, for example, that she had never married. And she also revealed why she’s still laughing: “My mom always told me that you can’t see wrinkles when you laugh,” she declared in an interview for the daily Blesk, of course with a smile.
Sources: csfd, Blesk.cz