Anouk Aimée, the French cinema icon known for “A Man and a Woman,” “La Dolce Vita” and “Lola,” has died. She was 92 years old.
The actor's daughter, Manuela Papatakis, confirmed the news on Instagram, writing that she was at her mother's bedside in Paris when Aimée died on Tuesday morning. No cause of death was given.
Aimée was born Nicole Françoise Florence Dreyfus in Paris on April 27, 1932, daughter of actors Geneviève Sorya and Henry Murray. She made her film debut at age 14 in “The House Under the Sea” (La maison sous la mer) as a character named Anouk, whom she adopted after her. In the late 1940s she added the surname “Aimée”, meaning “beloved”, to cement her identity with her on-screen roles.
Recognized as an emblem of “fresh, sophisticated beauty,” the actor appeared in nearly 90 films over seven decades. Her most notable roles include the recently widowed Anne, who falls in love with a widower at her daughter's school before deciding that her heartbreak is too recent to continue the romance, in “A Man and a Woman”, for which she was nominated for an Oscar as a protagonist. actress category – an incredible feat for a non-American star in 1967. She also won the Golden Globe that year in the same category.
Other of his most notable films are “La Dolce Vita” (1960) and “8½” (1963), directed by Federico Fellini, as well as “Lola” (1961), “Justine” (1969), “Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man ” (1981) and “Ready to Wear” (1994).
The international success of “A Man and a Woman” completely baffled Aimee at the time.
“When we went to the Golden Globes, I remember seeing Fred Astaire,” Aimee told The Times in 2002. “John Wayne came to talk to me. Groucho Marx. They are people he admired when he was a child and here they applaud me. I don't understand. It is incorrect.”
Still, he expressed deep gratitude for his adoring reception in the United States.
“It was incredible. It was an incredible adventure,” he said. “I must say that I owe a lot to American cinema because they have always received me very well here. People behave very well with me in the United States, that's true. I'm one of the Europeans those who love it. [in America].
Aimée was married four times: first to Edouard Zimmermann from 1949 to 1950, then to the writer and film director Nikos Papatakis, with whom she had a daughter Manuela, from 1951 to 1954. Her third husband was Pierre Barouh, who played her late husband in “A Man.” and a Woman,” from 1966 to 1969. Her last marriage was to British actor Albert Finney from 1970 to 1978. Finney died in 2019, Papatakis in 2010, and Barouh in 2016.
Aimée is survived by her daughter, who also had a brief acting career, her granddaughter Gilead, and her great-granddaughter Mila.
