Danish-born actor Anna Karina, one of the most acclaimed luminaries of influential French new wave cinema, has died of cancer at age 79.
Karina, famous for her kohl-rimmed blue eyes, was the frequent muse of director Jean-Luc Godard, her first husband.
She starred in seven of his films, including A Woman is a Woman, Pierrot Le Fou and Bande a Part (Band of Outsiders).
Karina's agent Laurent Balandras told French media she passed away in Paris on Saturday in the company of her fourth husband, American director Dennis Berry.
French Culture Minister Franck Riester paid tribute to the icon of 1960s chic.
"Her gaze was the gaze of the nouvelle vague (new wave). It will remain so forever," he tweeted.
"Today, French cinema has been orphaned. It has lost one of its legends."
Karina also worked with other great directors including Lucchino Visconti, Jacques Rivette and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and had leading roles in some major English-language productions in the late 1960s and early 1980s.
She later did some directing and had a singing career, recording Sous Le Soleil Exactement by Serge Gainsbourg.
Australian Associated Press
