Above: Italian poster for The Lovemakers (Mauro Bolognini, Italy, 1961). Illustration by Mauro Innocenti.
Over the past ten years I’ve surveyed the illustrated likenesses of stars like Lauren Bacall, Kirk Douglas, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bruno Ganz and Monica Vitti as in memoriams after their passing, so I am happy to say that the occasion of this look at Claudia Cardinale in movie posters is simply that, starting today, the 84-years-young Ms. Cardinale is being fêted with a three-week, 23-film retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.
Claudia Cardinale is one of my favorite actors, but while exploring her career for this piece I realized that my affection for her really comes down to one film, albeit one of my all-time favorites: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). The fact that she is the focus of perhaps my favorite single shot in all cinema—Sergio Leone's magnificent crane shot as Cardinale’s Jill McBain passes through the train station and into town (accompanied by Ennio Morricone’s swelling score)—was perhaps all it took to put her in my pantheon.
Born and raised in Tunisia, Cardinale got her first break in 1957 when she entered a competition to find the Most Beautiful Italian girl in the country and won a trip to the Venice Film Festival where she was spotted by several film producers. She went on to be known as one of the most beautiful women in the world and a huge international star, working in both Hollywood and Europe. I was lucky enough to meet her once, at a reception for the 2014 film Effie Gray, which I designed the UK poster for. She’s not featured in that design and naturally as she moved to character roles in her later years she has been seen less and less on posters. But the start of her career, in the late ’50s, coincided with the last great decade or so of movie poster illustration, and nearly all the posters she was drawn and painted for (with varying degrees of verisimilitude and panache) come from her first decade of stardom, from the early ’60s to the early ’70s. I’ve tried to find as many different artistic renditions of her radiant beauty as I can from that period and they’re presented here in chronological order.
Above: detail from Belgian poster for 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963). Artist uncredited.
Above: Belgian poster for 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963). Artist uncredited.
Above: Detail from French grande for The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, Italy, 1963). Illustration by Gonzalez.
Above: French grande for The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, Italy, 1963). Illustration by Gonzalez.
Above: Detail from US 3-sheet for The Pink Panther (Blake Edwards, USA, 1963). Illustration by Jack Rickard.
Above: US 3-sheet for The Pink Panther (Blake Edwards, USA, 1963). Illustration by Jack Rickard.
Above: Detail from US 6-sheet for The Pink Panther (Blake Edwards, USA, 1963). Illustration by Jack Rickard.
Above: US 6-sheet for The Pink Panther (Blake Edwards, USA, 1963). Illustration by Jack Rickard.
Above: Detail from French grande for The Pink Panther (Blake Edwards, USA, 1963). Artist uncredited (after Rickard).
Above: French grande for The Pink Panther (Blake Edwards, USA, 1963). Artist uncredited (after Rickard).
Above: Detail from Polish poster for The Pink Panther (Blake Edwards, USA, 1963). Illustration by Andrzej Krajewski.
Above: Polish poster for The Pink Panther (Blake Edwards, USA, 1963). Illustration by Andrzej Krajewski.
Above: Detail from Belgian poster for Circus World (Henry Hathaway, USA, 1964). Artist uncredited.
Above: Belgian poster for Circus World (Henry Hathaway, USA, 1964). Artist uncredited.
Above: Detail from UK poster for Circus World (Henry Hathaway, USA, 1964). Artist uncredited.
Above: UK poster for Circus World (Henry Hathaway, USA, 1964). Artist uncredited.
Above: Detail from Italian 2-foglio for Circus World (Henry Hathaway, USA, 1964). Artist uncredited.
Above: Italian 2-foglio for Circus World (Henry Hathaway, USA, 1964). Artist uncredited.
Above: Detail from Italian 2-foglio for Bebo’s Girl (Luigi Comencini, Italy, 1964). Illustration by Arnaldo Putzu.
Above: Italian 2-foglio for Bebo’s Girl (Luigi Comencini, Italy, 1964). Illustration by Arnaldo Putzu.
Above: Detail from Italian 4-foglio for Bebo’s Girl (Luigi Comencini, Italy, 1964). Illustration by Arnaldo Putzu.
Above: Italian 4-foglio for Bebo’s Girl (Luigi Comencini, Italy, 1964). Illustration by Arnaldo Putzu.
Above: Hungarian poster for Bebo’s Girl (Luigi Comencini, Italy, 1964). Illustration by Sandor Ernyei.
Above: Polish poster for Bebo’s Girl (Luigi Comencini, Italy, 1964). Illustration by Onegin Dabrowski.
Above: Detail from Italian poster for The Magnificent Cuckold (Antonioni Pietrangeli, Italy, 1964). Illustration by Sandro Simeoni.
Above: Italian poster for The Magnificent Cuckold (Antonioni Pietrangeli, Italy, 1964). Illustration by Sandro Simeoni.
Above: Detail from the US half-sheet for Blindfold (Philip Dunne, USA, 1965). Artist uncredited.
Above: US half-sheet for Blindfold (Philip Dunne, USA, 1965). Artist uncredited.
Above: Detail from Italian 2-foglio for The Professionals (Richard Brooks, USA, 1966). Artist uncredited.
Above: Italian 2-foglio for The Professionals (Richard Brooks, USA, 1966). Artist uncredited.
Above: Detail from US 6-sheet for The Professionals (Richard Brooks, USA, 1966). Illustration by Howard Terpning.
Above: US 6-sheet for The Professionals (Richard Brooks, USA, 1966). Illustration by Howard Terpning.
Above: Italian 2-foglio for The Day of the Owl aka Mafia (Damiano Damiani, Italy, 1968). Artist uncredited.
Above: Italian poster for The Day of the Owl aka Mafia (Damiano Damiani, Italy, 1968). Illustration by Antonio Mos.
Above: Detail of US one sheet for The Day of the Owl aka Mafia (Damiano Damiani, Italy, 1968). Artist uncredited.
Above: US one sheet for The Day of the Owl aka Mafia (Damiano Damiani, Italy, 1968). Artist uncredited.
Above: Hungarian poster for The Day of the Owl aka Mafia (Damiano Damiani, Italy, 1968). Illustration by Ernyei Sándor.
Above: US half-sheet for Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, USA/Italy, 1968). Illustration by Frank McCarthy.
Above: US one-sheet for Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, USA/Italy, 1968). Illustration by Frank McCarthy.
Above: German poster for Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, USA/Italy, 1968). Artist uncredited.
Above: Detail from Italian poster for Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, USA/Italy, 1968). Illustration by Rodolpho Gasparri.
Above: Italian poster for Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, USA/Italy, 1968). Illustration by Rodolpho Gasparri.
Above: Detail from US one-sheet for The Red Tent (Mikhail Kalatozov, USSR/Italy, 1969). Illustration by Howard Terpning.
Above: US one-sheet for The Red Tent (Mikhail Kalatozov, USSR/Italy, 1969). Illustration by Howard Terpning.
Above: Soviet billboard poster for The Red Tent (Mikhail Kalatozov, USSR/Italy, 1969). Artist unknown.
Above: Detail from Spanish poster for Frenchie King (Christian-Jaque, Spain, 1971). Illustration by Jano.
Above: Spanish poster for Frenchie King (Christian- Jaque, Spain, 1971). Illustration by Jano.
Above: Detail from UK quad for Frenchie King (Christian-Jaque, Spain, 1971). Artist uncredited.
Above: UK quad for Frenchie King (Christian-Jaque, Spain, 1971). Artist uncredited.
Above: Detail from Italian poster for Libera, My Love (Mauro Bolognini, Italy, 1975). Illustration by Antonio Mos.
Above: Italian poster for Libera, My Love (Mauro Bolognini, Italy, 1975). Illustration by Antonio Mos.