Iconic Italian actress Laura Antonelli passed away at her home in Italy on Monday, Yahoo! News reports. She was known for her seductive roles in erotic Italian cinema and for her romance with French actor and co-star Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Atonelli's body was found by her cleaner in her apartment near Rome. Italian authorities confirmed her cause of death was by heart attack, according to Agence France-Presse.
"It is with profound sadness that I have learned of the death of Laura Antonelli. Laura was for me above all an adorable companion, who was exceptionally charming," Belmondo told the AFP in a written statement.
Antonelli was born Laura Antonaz in Croatia, the Hollywood Reporter details. As a child, she fled with her parents to Italy. She would later pursue modeling in Rome before obtaining her breakout role as Rosanna in Mario Bava's 1966 comedy "Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs."
She starred in several films in the '70s, most notably Giuseppe Patroni Griffi's "The Divine Nymph." The 1975 film featured a 7-minute-long nude scene, which was unprecedented at the time. Antonelli would go on to accumulate more than 40 film credits throughout her acting career.
The actress made a name for herself as a sex symbol in Italian erotic film. But according to the New York Times, Antonelli said in a 1979 interview that she never thought of herself as sexy.
"If I manage to communicate a kind of sensuality on the screen, it must mean that there is something in me that I can express," she said, the New York Times reports. "I am proud of it. After all, sex is a reality which lives in our dreams, in our sentiments. The important thing is to use it well and never let it degrade into pornography. Naked beauty without intelligence fades quickly."
