After winning a trip to Italy in 1957 by being declared “The Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia”, Claudia Cardinale was coached by crotch-chasing creators of Italian skinema to become the next Sophia Loren. And like Loren, Claudia was coveted for her beautiful face, sultry voice, and charismatic curvature. After making her film debut in Goha (1958) Claudia kicked around Italian cinema before playing Princess Dala in The Pink Panther (1963). But you don’t need to be Inspector Clouseau to track down a glimpse of Claudia’s hidden jewels. In The Professionals (1966) Claudia flashes some very quick nip while undressing for a cowboy before she turns him into a cowman. Although she never dared to go tuta bare, this rare Romanesque bird’s sun-tanned shoulders and quick flashes of boulders can be seen while sudsing in a tub in both Once Upon a Time in the West (1969) and Queen of Diamonds (1970). Any of this royal ravisher’s endeavors are guaranteed to put a bone on your throne that’s hard as a diamond. Claudia was in all sorts of movies from, make your own joke about this one, A Fine Pair (1968) to the Russian/Italian collab The Red Tent (1969), before she finally joined Monica Vitti in Blonde in Black Leather (1975). Veni, Vitti, vici, we came when we saw Claudia getting spaghetti sucked off her body, before she was seduced by the horny devil in a white, cleavage baring dress. After bouncing in a bra in Le cadeau (1981), also known as Bankers Also Have Souls, Claudia apparently banked enough onscreen sexuality, because although she’s been steadily acting in movies like Son of the Pink Panther (1993), And now…Ladies and gentlemen (2002), and All Roads Lead to Rome (2015), she hasn’t been showing us that no Tunisian can come for her crown, of late. Giving up on adding erotic entries to your resume with decades of good skinema left in you? Around here, that’s a Cardinale sin!
