Anouk Aimee, the French actress who received a best actress Oscar nomination in 1967 for A Man And A Woman, has died aged 92.
Aimee died at her home in Paris. Her death was confirmed by an Instagram post from her daughter Manuela Papatakis, which read, “With my daughter, Galaad, and my granddaughter, Mila, we have great sadness to announce the departure of my mother Anouk Aimée.”
Born Nicole Francoise Florence Dreyfus in Paris in 1932, she made her film debut aged 14 in the role of Anouk in Henri Calef’s The House Under The Sea. She kept the name for her career, adding the Aimee [English translation: beloved] as a surname.
Aimee worked in films across France, Spain, the UK, Italy and Germany. She achieved international acclaim in Italian legend Federico Fellini’s 1960 La Dolce Vita, in which she plays the wealthy sunglasses-wearing heiress Maddalena, a lover to Marcello Mastroianni’s Marcello.
Aimee went on to star in Fellini’s 1963 8 ½, playing the estranged wife of the film director protagonist; while other early career roles included Jacques Demy’s Lola.
For her role as widow Anne Gaulthier who falls in love with Jean-Louis Trintignant’s widower in Claude Lelouch’s A Man And A Woman, Anouk won the Bafta for best actress as well as the Golden Globe for best actress – motion picture drama; and was nominated for the equivalent Oscar.
Further career highlights included the best actress award at Cannes for Marco Bellocchio’s A Leap In The Dark in 1980. Aimee received an honorary Cesar from France’s national film awards in 2002.
Lelouch, Aimee and Trintignant reunited for a sequel A Man And A Woman: 20 Years Later in 1986; and a third film The Best Years Of A Life in 2019, which was a final film for both Trintignant and Aimee.
Aimee was married four times, including her second marriage to Greek filmmaker Nikos Papatakis from 1951 to 1954, through which she had her only child Manuela in 1951. She was subsequently married to French actor-composer Pierre Barouh, who had co-starred in A Man And A Woman, from 1966 to 1969; and to British actor Albert Finney from 1970 to 1978.
In a social media post, Claude Lelouch said: “She gave me every chance and said yes when, as a young filmmaker, others said no to me. Thanks to her, and only to her, I have been on the verge of stardom. Her silhouette and grace will forever be etched on a Normandy beach. Having made the whole world dream, now she’s going to make the angels dream.”
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