Actress Sylvia Kristel, the Dutch star of the hit 1970s Emmanuelle erotic movie series, has died of cancer at the age of 60.
Ms Kristel died in her sleep on Wednesday night, her agent, Features Creative Management, said in a statement.
The model, who turned to acting in the 1970s and was the star of more than 50 films, had been fighting cancer for several years.
Her breakthrough came in Emmanuelle, a 1974 erotic tale directed by Frenchman Just Jaeckin, about the sexual adventures of a man and his beautiful young wife, played by Kristel, in Thailand.
Emmanuelle is also famous for containing the first uncensored and open lesbian love scene in a movie. It was a breakthrough.
She went on to star in several sequels, as well as in Hollywood movies including Private Lessons in 1981.
It was in Hollywood that she sank into a world of drink and drugs. “I wish I could have skipped that part of my life, she said in an interview in 2005 with Dutch newspaper De Volkkrant.
Kristel also admitted her early success had been down to chance. “Love dictated what I did,” she revealed, saying her former partner, Belgian author Hugo Claus, had persuaded her to star in Emmanuelle.
“He said: ‘Thailand, that’s nice, we’ve never been there and anyway the film will never come out in the Netherlands so you won’t put your mother to shame,'” Kristel said. “In the end, 350 million people saw it worldwide.”
Jaeckin, the director, who is also a sculptor and has a gallery in Paris, said of her death: “I am very sad … She was like a little sister. We started together … Emmanuelle brought us big problems. We were a bit marked. It was a highly contested film then and now it is a cult film.”
He said that he knew immediately that Kristel was destined for the leading role. “When I saw her face, I was thunderstruck,” he said.
In an interview with the French Le Nouvel Observateur magazine Jaeckin explained that he went to the Netherlands to cast the role and, “I saw a quantity of very beautiful girls.”
Then by chance he saw Kristel, who worked at the agency and was not in the casting call, and immediately knew ,”This is Emmanuelle.”
Kristel is survived by her partner Peter Brul and a son with Claus, Arthur Kristel.
Skynews
