Anouk Aimée, the revered French film actress who achieved international stardom with her Oscar-nominated role in the 1966 romantic drama “A Man and a Woman,” has died at age 92. The news of her passing on Tuesday in Paris was confirmed by her daughter Manuela Papatakis.
With her sophisticated beauty, enigmatic presence and roles portraying dynamic, often-disillusioned women across seven decades of cinema, Aimée came to epitomize the height of European art-house cool and sensuality in the 1960s. Her turn as a reluctant widow unexpectedly falling for a widower (played by Jean-Louis Trintignant) in Claude Lelouch’s “A Man and a Woman” earned her Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, cementing her as a global icon.
The international success of the acclaimed film, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, astonished the French actress. “I remember I saw Fred Astaire. John Wayne came over to talk to me. Groucho Marx. These are people I admired…and here they are applauding me,” she told the LA Times in 2002.
Aimée’s path to renown began in her youth, born Nicole Françoise Dreyfus in Paris in 1932 to actor parents Henri Dreyfus and Geneviève Sorya. At 14, she appeared in her first film using the name “Anouk” and later appended “Aimée” (meaning “beloved”) to cement her stage identity as a rising starlet in 1950s French New Wave and international cinema.
Her first major breakthrough came with roles in Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” in 1960, playing a lascivious Italian socialite, and 1963’s “8 1/2,” as the patient yet jealous wife. Other standout credits included Jacques Demy’s “Lola” in 1961 and Fellini’s “Juliet of the Spirits” in 1965 before achieving her iconic turn in “A Man and a Woman.”
Though her American films like 1969’s “Justine” and 1994’s “Ready to Wear” failed to match her overseas success, Aimée remained a respected figure in European cinema the rest of her life. She worked steadily until the 2010s, picking up a Cannes Best Actress prize for the 1980 drama “Leap Into the Void” and an Honorary Cesar in 2002 celebrating her six-decade career.
Her final film role came in 2019’s “The Best Years of a Life,” a romantic reunion with her “A Man and a Woman” co-star Trintignant. With her passing this week, the cinema world mourns the loss of Aimée – the ever-alluring embodiment of classic French film glamour and artistry.
In additions to her daughter, she is survived by a granddaughter and great-granddaughter. Looking back at the surprising adulation she received in America for “A Man and a Woman,” she once reflected: “It was unbelievable. It was an incredible adventure.”