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French actress Anouk Aimée died on Tuesday, Variety reports. She was 92.
According to the outlet, her daughter and fellow actress Manuela Papatakis shared the news on Instagram, explaining that she “was at her bedside when she passed away this morning at her home in Paris.”
“With my daughter, Galaad, and my granddaughter, Mila, we are immensely saddened to announce the [death] of my mother, Anouk Aimée,” she wrote, concluding her post, “With infinite love.💞♾️”
Aimée was born on April 27, 1932, per the Associated Press. According to the outlet, she was born under the name Nicole Françoise Florence Dreyfus, but took on the name Anouk from her first role in the 1947 drama La maison sous la mer. She would later adopt the last name Aimée, which translates to “loved” in French, from the advice of French poet and screenwriter Jacques Prévert.
She worked with critically acclaimed Italian director Federico Fellini on the 1960 La Dolce Vita, as well as 8 1/2, which debuted in 1963. She spoke to the “genius” that was the late director in a 2012 Charlie Rose interview, likening Fellini to a “magician.”
Per IMDb, Aimée earned her most recent film credit in director Claude Lelouch’s Les plus belles années d’une vie (The Best Years of A Life), the epilogue to his 1966 film A Man and a Woman, per The Hollywood Reporter. According to the Associated Press, both Aimée and Lelouch earned Oscar nods for Best Actress and Best Director, respectively.
The film did win two other Oscars — including Best Foreign Language Film — earned two Golden Globes — one of which went to Aimée for Best Actress — and also spawned the 1986 sequel A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later, in which Aimée reprised her role as Anne Gauthier.
Also among her numerous film credits are Montparnasse 19, Lola, and The Appointment, Justine, Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man, and A Leap in the Dark, the last of which earned her Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival. The world renowned festival honored the late actress on X with a tribute.
