Italian film star Monica Vitti dies at 90

Monica Vitti, the actress who starred in classic Italian films in the 1960s, has died. She was 90.

Vitti's death was confirmed Wednesday by Italian writer and former Rome mayor Walter Veltroni, who shared the news on behalf of Vitti's partner, Roberto Russo, according to Deadline and Variety.

Vitti was best known for her collaborations with director Michelangelo Antonioni, starring in his films like 1960's L'Avventura. "Her cool, detached performance wowed audiences and critics, and she became a muse for Antonioni," the Hollywood Reporter writes. Vitti went on to appear in Antonioni's La Notte, L'Eclisse and Red Desert, as well as comedies like The Phantom of Liberty, The Pizza Triangle, and Modesty Blaise, starring alongside Terence Stamp in the latter. She won numerous accolades throughout her career including multiple Italian Golden Globes and ​​David di Donatello Awards, the Italian equivalent of an Academy Award, and 1995, she received a Career Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival.

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Vitti's last film role came in 1989, and she retired in the 1990s due to a battle with Alzheimer's disease, per Variety. The Criterion Collection remembered Vitti for her "simply unforgettable" performances, while Little White Lies mourned the "gifted actor and silver screen icon in the purest sense of the phrase." Italy's culture minister also remembered Vitti as "the queen of Italian cinema."