Cook Islands 5 Dollars Silver Coin 2013 Claudia Cardinale, Hollywood Legends
Commemorative issue: Hollywood Legends Series - Bernard of Hollywood
Despite obscurity and lack of funds, Bruno Bernard (1912-1987) set up his first darkroom in the basement of his Hollywood apartment in 1940. Shortly thereafter, he moved his studio to the famous Sunset Strip. “No one knew the name Bernard, but they all knew Hollywood“, and hence the optical trademark signature Bernard of Hollywood, which ensured the image of glamour visually for decades, was created.
Bruno Bernard was considered as "Rembrandt of photography" and the “The king of Hollywood glamour” and Marilyn Monroe’s discoverer. In 1984 Bernard was the first still photographer to be honoured with an Oscar at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Obverse: Head of Queen Elizabeth II with tiara facing right.
Lettering: ELIZABETH II COOK ISLANDS 5 DOLLARS.
Engraver: Ian Rank-Broadley.
Reverse: Claudia Cardinale photograph by Bruno Bernard and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the Motion Pictures category at right (Classic film camera representing motion pictures).
Lettering: HOLLYWOOD LEGENDS Bernard of Hollywood TM 2013 CLAUDIA CARDINALE.
Value: 5 Dollars = 5 New Zealand Dollars.
Metal: Silver (.925).
Weight: 25 g.
Diameter: 38.61 mm.
Shape: Round.
Mintage: 2500 pcs.
Partially coloured on relief.
Hollywood Legends
Marilyn Monroe Vivien Leigh Sophia Loren Claudia Cardinale Elizabeth Taylor
Claudia Cardinale
Claudia Cardinale (born 15 April 1938) is an Italian film actress. She appeared in some of the most acclaimed European films of the 1960s and 1970s, mainly Italian or French, but also in several English films.
Born and raised in Tunis, Cardinale won the "Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia" competition in 1957, the prize being a trip to Italy which quickly led to film contracts, thanks above all to the involvement of Franco Cristaldi, who acted as her mentor for a number of years and later married her. After making her debut in a minor role with Omar Sharif in Goha (1958), Cardinale became one of the best known actresses in Italy after roles in films such as Rocco and His Brothers (1960), Girl with a Suitcase (1961), The Leopard (1963), Cartouche (1963) and Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963). From 1963, Cardinale became known in the United States and Britain following her role in The Pink Panther opposite David Niven. For several years she appeared in Hollywood films such as Blindfold (1965) opposite Rock Hudson, Lost Command (1966), The Professionals (1966), The Hell with Heroes (1968) and the Sergio Leone epic western Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), a joint US-Italian production, in which she was praised for her role as a former prostitute opposite Jason Robards and Henry Fonda.
Jaded with the Hollywood film industry and not wanting to become a cliché, Cardinale returned to Italian and French cinema, and garnered the David di Donatello for Best Actress award for her roles in Il giorno della civetta (1968) and as a prostitute alongside Alberto Sordi in A Girl in Australia (1971). In 1974, Cardinale met director Pasquale Squitieri, who would become her husband, and she frequently featured in his films, including I guappi (1974), Corleone (1978) and Claretta (1984), the latter of which won her the Nastro d'Argento Award for Best Actress. In 1982 she played the love interest of Klaus Kinski in Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, who raises the funds to buy him a steamship in South America. In 2010, Cardinale received the Actress Award at the 47th Antalya "Golden Orange" International Film Festival for her performance as an elderly Italian woman who takes in a young Turkish exchange student in Signora Enrica.
Outspoken on women's rights causes over the years, Cardinale has been a UNESCO goodwill ambassador for the Defense of Women's Rights since March 2000. In February 2011 the Los Angeles Times Magazine named Cardinale among the 50 most beautiful women in film history.