​French New Wave Star Anna Karina Dead at 79

She collaborated with both Jean-Luc Godard and Serge Gainsbourg

BY Sarah MurphyPublished Dec 16, 2019

French New Wave actress Anna Karina has passed away at the age of 79. She died of cancer on Saturday (December 14) in Paris.
 
Born Hanne Karin Bayer in Denmark in 1940, she moved to Paris at the age of 18 and began modelling.
 
Jean-Luc Godard first noticed Karina in a soap commercial and would go on to direct her in seminal 1960s French New Wave films like Le Petit Soldat, Vivre sa vie, Bande à part, Pierrot le Fou and Une femme est une femme.
 
Karina and Godard were married in 1961 but divorced in 1965. She later remarried three times to Perre Fabre (1968-1974), Daniel Duval (1978-1981) and Dennis Berry (1982-1994).
 
Karina set up her own production company in 1973, making her directorial debut that same year with Vivre ensemble. She also acted in the film.
 
Her final film was 2008's Victoria, which she directed and starred in. It was filmed in Montreal and Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, as well as in various other locations in Quebec.
 
Karina was also a singer, releasing 1960s hits "Sous le soleil exactement" and "Roller Girl" with Serge Gainsbourg. In 2005, she released an album of songs from movies titled Chansons de films.
 
Between 1973 and 1988, she also wrote and released four novels, with Karina now remembered as an icon of both French cinema and fashion.
 
Read some of the social media tributes to Karina below.
 

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