Actress Anna Karina, who was regarded as one of the icons of French New Wave cinema, has sadly died.
The sad news was confirmed by her agent, who said that she passed away in hospital with her fourth husband, director Dennis Berry, by her side.
The French culture minister Franck Reister paid tribute to her as he tweeted: ‘Today French cinema has been orphaned. It has lost one of its legends.’
Here’s what you need to know about Anna, her life and career.
How old was Anna Karina and what was the cause of her death?
Anna Karina was 79 years old at the time of her death.
Her agent Laurent Balandras told AFP that she passed away ‘in a Paris hospital of the effects of cancer’.
The actress was born on 22 September 1940 in Solbjerg, Denmark.
She began her career in her native country before moving to Paris aged 17 – where she lived on the streets before being discovered by an advertising agency, and subsequently launching a career as a model.
How was Anna Karina best known?
As well as modelling Anna was known for her acting career, which was kickstarted after legendary French film director Jean-Luc Godard saw her in a series of Palmolive ads in which she was posing in a bathtub.
She turned down a role in his movie Breathless but went on to star in his 1960 movie Le Petit Soldat (The Little Soldier) and her career took off from there.
Anna won the best actress award at the 1961 Berlin Film Festival for her next movie A Woman Is A Woman, and went on to appear in a string of (mainly) French films during the 60s and 70s including Godard’s Bande A Part, Vivre Sa Vie, Pierrot Le Fou and Alphaville.
Her other film roles included The Nun, The Stranger, Laughter In The Dark, The Magus (which saw her starring alongside Sir Michael Caine), Bread and Chocolate and Chinese Roulette.
More recently she wrote, directed and appeared in the 2008 musical road movie Victoria as well as 2002’s The Truth About Charlie, a remake of 60s movie Charade.
Anna also had a career as a singer – scoring hits with songs including Sous Le Soleil Exactement and Roller Girl in the 60s, as well as writing four novels.
She was married four times, wedding Godard in 1961 – with their wedding being attended by some of the biggest stars in French cinema at the time, François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, Jacques Demy, Jean-Pierre Melville, and Jacques Rivette.
They split four years later – with Anna going on to marry French actors Pierre Fabre from 1968-1974 and Daniel Duval from 1978-1981.
She was married to her fourth and final husband, American film director Dennis Berry, from 1982-1994.
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