French actress Anouk Aimée has died aged 92

The French actress Anouk Aimée has died at the age of 92, her agent confirmed to dpa in Paris on Tuesday.

Aimée worked with the greats of her time. She stood in front of the camera for Marcel Carné, Robert Altman, Claude Lelouch and Italian star director Federico Fellini, who called her the "best actress in the world - after Giulietta Masina," Fellini's wife.

Born as Nicole Dreyfus in Paris on April 27, 1932, Aimée acted in more than 50 films, including Fellini's cult film "La Dolce Vita" and later in "8 1/2" alongside Marcello Mastroianni.

In the early 1960s she was more revered in Italy than in France. However, one of her most well-known films was "A Man and a Woman" by French director Claude Lelouch.

The bittersweet romance, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1966, finally secured her international reputation. For her role as a script girl who falls in love with a widowed race car driver after her husband's death, she won the Golden Globe as well as the British Academy Film Award and was nominated for an Oscar for best actress.

It is still considered one of cinema's most moving love stories.

As the daughter of actors, Aimée took to the stage and stood before the camera as a young teenager. Her career began in 1949 with the role of Juliet in the Shakespeare adaptation "The Lovers of Verona."

She often played mysterious, enigmatic beauties who longed for a turning point in their lives. Aimée was married several times, including to the British actor Albert Finney. She had brief relationships with Warren Beatty and Omar Sharif.