Nicole Françoise Florence Dreyfus (French pronunciation: [nikɔl fʁɑ̃swaz flɔʁɑ̃s dʁɛfys]; 27 April 1932 – 18 June 2024), known professionally as Anouk Aimée (French: [anuk ɛme]) or Anouk, was a French film actress who appeared in 70 films from 1947 until… Nicole Françoise Florence Dreyfus (French pronunciation: [nikɔl fʁɑ̃swaz flɔʁɑ̃s dʁɛfys]; 27 April 1932 – 18 June 2024), known professionally as Anouk Aimée (French: [anuk ɛme]) or Anouk, was a French film actress who appeared in 70 films from 1947 until 2019. Having begun her film career at age 14, she studied acting and dance in her early years, besides her regular education. Although the majority of her films were French, she also made films in Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany, along with some American productions.
Among her films are Federico Fellini's La dolce vita (1960), after which she was considered a "rising star who exploded" onto the film world. She subsequently acted in Fellini's 8½ (1963), Jacques Demy's Lola (1961), George Cukor's Justine (1969), Bernardo Bertolucci's Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981), and Robert Altman's Prêt à Porter (1994). She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her acting in A Man and a Woman (1966). The film "virtually reignited the lush on-screen romance in an era of skeptical modernism", and brought her international fame.
She won the Award for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for Marco Bellocchio's film A Leap in the Dark (1980). In 2002, she received an honorary César Award, France's national film award. Aimée was known for her "striking features" and beauty, and considered "one of the hundred sexiest stars in film history", according to a 1995 poll conducted by Empire magazine. She often portrayed a femme fatale with a melancholy aura. In the 1960s, Life magazine commented: "after each picture her enigmatic beauty lingered" in the memories of her audience, and called her "the Left Bank's most beautiful resident".
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