French-Danish actress Anna Karina, the protagonist of "Bande a Part" and "Pierrot le Fou," co-director of Nouvelle Vague director Jean-Luc Godard, died of cancer at the age of 79.
Karina, the epitome of '60s trendy blue eyes and elf-like features, starred in seven films directed by her ex-husband Godard, including Alphaville.
"Anna died of cancer yesterday at a hospital in Paris under the care of doctors," her agent, Laurent Balandras, told AFP. Nearby in the final moments was found her fourth husband, American director Dennis Berry.
?Today, French cinema remains orphaned. He lost one of the greatest legends, "said Culture Minister Franck Riester.
Karina was a teenager when she took the road from Denmark to France on her own to become an actress. She worked as a model for several years before appearing to Godard while walking to Champs-Elysees / Godard offered her a nude scene in his first film, "Breathless," but Anna refused.
They were together when the actress, at the age of 21, won the Best Actress award at the Berlin Film Festival for "A Woman is a Woman" (1961). They divorced in 1965. "We loved each other very much," Karina told AFP in a March 2018 interview. "But it was hard to live with," she added.
"It was kind of like saying, 'I'm going to buy cigarettes' and coming back three weeks later."
She also got engaged as a director for the film "Vivre Ensemble," a romance between a history teacher and a young woman who ends up with violence and drugs.
Karina also succeeded as a singer, in collaboration with Serge Gainsbourg.
Source: The Guardian
