Anouk Aimée (c) HFPA 2002
One of the great actresses of European cinema, Anouk Aimée, died in Paris at age 92. I had the great privilege of interviewing her in 2002, as a journalist in the Hollywood Foreign Press, about Festival in Cannes directed by Henry Jaglom. She was directed by Federico Fellini in La Dolce Vita (1960) and 8 ½ (1963) with Marcello Mastroianni, by Jacques Demi in Lola (1961), by Claude Lelouch in Un homme et une femme (A Man and a Woman, 1966) with Jean-Louis Trintignant, for which she won a Golden Globe as Best Actress, by Marco Bellocchio in Salto nel vuoto (A Leap in the Dark, 1980), by Bernardo Bertolucci in La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo (Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man, 1981) with Ugo Tognazzi, by Robert Altman in Prêt à Porter (Ready to Wear, 1994).
Elisa Leonelli, Anouk Aimee (c) HFPA 2002
In 2002 Aimée said that she began to love being an actress when she met Fellini, who made her understand that to be in this work meant not taking yourself too seriously. She added that Jacques Demy was a poet, a very rare person, and had a special place in her heart. She mentioned other actresses that she admired, Ava Gardner as the most beautiful, also Gena Rowlands, Meryl Streep and Norma Shearer.
She lived in Montmartre, where she could own a house with a garden, because she loved animals, had lots of dogs and cats, and she used to have a house in London when she was married to British actor Albert Finney (1970-1978), her fourth husband. She talked about her daughter Manuela, from her second husband, Greek filmmaker Nico Papatakis, and about her granddaughter.
Goodbye Aimée, you were loved.