Monica Vitti dead – Golden Globe-winning Italian actress and star of Red Desert dies aged 90
ITALIAN actress Monica Vitti has died at the age of 90 after suffering a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's disease.
The star was best known for her role in the 1964 film Red Desert, bagging seven Golden Globes throughout her career.
Born Maria Luisa Ceciarelli in Rome, Monica began acting in amateur productions as a teen before training at National Academy of Dramatic Arts.
She scored her first film role in 1954 in Italian comedy movie Laugh! Laugh! Laugh! before being catapulted to fame by starring in a number of films directed by screenwriter Michelangelo Antonioni - including the lead part in L'Avventura.
The veteran actress went on to star in her first English-language film Modesty Blaise in 1966 and appeared in a string of movies in the 1970s, including The Pizza Triangle, That's How We Women Are and Orders Are Orders.
After trying her hand at writing and directing the 1990 film Scandalo Segreto - which she acted in alongside Elliott Gould - Monica retired from cinema.
She married long-term partner Roberto Russo in 2000 before making her final public appearance in Paris in 2002 at the premiere of stage-musical Notre-Dame de Paris.
In 2011, it was revealed the star had been battling Alzheimer's disease for many years.
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Throughout her stellar on-screen career, she scooped seven Italian Golden Globes for Best Actress, the Career Golden Globe and five David di Donatello Awards for Best Actress.
In 1995, Monica also won the Venice Film Festival Career Golden Lion Award.
Dario Franceschini, Italy's minister of culture hailed her the "queen of Italian cinema" as he confirmed her passing.
“Farewell to Monica Vitti, farewell to the queen of Italian cinema," he wrote.
"Today is a really sad day, a great artist and a great Italian disappeared."
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