Acclaimed Italian actress Claudia Cardinale, who starred in The Pink Panther and Once Upon A Time In The West, has died aged 87, according to French media reports.

The actress, who starred in more than 100 films and made-for-TV productions, died in Nemours, France, surrounded by her children, her agent told the AFP news agency.

At the age of 17 she won a beauty contest in Tunisia, where she was born to Sicilian parents, and was rewarded with a trip to the Venice Film Festival, kick-starting her acting career.

She had expected to become a schoolteacher before she entered the beauty contest.

Cardinale gained international fame in 1963 when she starred in both Federico Fellini’s 8-1/2 and The Leopard.

She went on to star in the comedy The Pink Panther and Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West in 1968.

She considered 1966’s The Professionals as the best of her Hollywood films.

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When she was awarded a lifetime achievement at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002, she said acting had been a great career.

“I’ve lived more than 150 lives, prostitute, saint, romantic, every kind of woman, and that is marvellous to have this opportunity to change yourself,” she said.

“I’ve worked with the most important directors. They gave me everything.”

Cardinale was named a goodwill ambassador for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation for the defence of women’s rights in 2000.

She is survived by two children.

A convicted killer who turned up at Cheryl Tweedy’s home for a fourth time has been jailed.

Daniel Bannister, 50, was sentenced to 12 months after admitting a single charge of breaching a restraining order.

He was also given a new restraining order, which warns him against contacting the former Girls Aloud singer.

“You are causing her anxiety,” Judge Alan Blake told him.

“She does not wish any contact with you. You have shown defiance to the court order. You need to draw a line under that behaviour.”

Bannister turned up at Tweedy’s rural home for the fourth time on 19 June.

Reading Crown Court heard he arrived in a taxi just before 10pm and rang the intercom twice before peering over the gate.

Bannister believed the singer had invited him to her home over Microsoft Teams, the court was told.

Tweedy said she was “stunned” when Bannister visited her home yet again and had been forced to hire security.

“Each time he returns the worry of his intentions intensifies,” she said in a victim impact statement.

“I’m worried, nervous and on edge every time I open my gate. No person should have to feel this way.

“Daniel has made my young child scared,” she added.

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Bannister was initially jailed for four months in September last year – and handed a three-year restraining order.

But he breached it by turning up at Tweedy’s home in December.

In March, he was jailed for 16 weeks at Wycombe Magistrates’ Court for repeatedly going to Tweedy’s Buckinghamshire home while under the restraining order.

During that appearance, the court heard that Tweedy “immediately panicked” and was “terrified” when she saw him outside her home, fearing for the safety of her eight-year-old son Bear.

Bannister killed Rajendra Patel, 48, at a south London YMCA shelter in 2012 and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Mr Patel died from an injury to his leg, a court heard.

Tweedy’s former partner Liam Payne died last year in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after falling from his third-floor hotel balcony.

Noel Clarke has been ordered to pay at least £3m of The Guardian publisher’s legal costs after losing his “far-fetched” libel case over allegations of sexual misconduct reported by the newspaper.

The first article, published in April 2021, said some 20 women who knew the actor and filmmaker in a professional capacity had come forward with allegations including harassment and sexually inappropriate behaviour.

Clarke, best known for his 2006 film Kidulthood and for starring in Doctor Who, sued Guardian News and Media (GNM) over seven articles in total, as well as a podcast, and vehemently denied “any sexual misconduct or wrongdoing”.

Following a trial earlier this year, a High Court judge found the newspaper’s reporting was substantially true, agreeing with the publisher’s defence of its reporting as both true and in the public interest.

At a hearing to determine costs on Tuesday, Clarke represented himself – saying in written submissions to the court that his legal team had resigned as he was unable to provide funding for the hearing.

Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that he must pay £3m ahead of a detailed assessment into the total costs to be recovered, which lawyers for the publisher estimated to be more than £6m.

“The claimant maintained a far-fetched and indeed a false case that the articles were not substantially true, by pursuing allegations of dishonesty and bad faith against almost all of the defendant’s truth witnesses,” the judge said.

The sum of £3m sought by GNM was “appropriate and no more than what ought to be reasonably ordered in this case”, she added, and “substantially lower than the defendant’s likely level of recovery”.

Clarke, 49, told the court he used ChatGPT to prepare his response to GNM’s barrister Gavin Millar KC, who asked the judge to order £3m as an interim payment – which he said was “significantly less” than the “norm” of asking for 75%-80%.

The actor described the proposed costs order as “excessive”, “inflated” and “caused by their own choices”, and asked the court to “consider both the law and the human reality of these proceedings”.

He also requested for the order on costs be held, pending an appeal.

“I have not been vexatious and I have not tried to play games with the court,” Clarke said. “I have lost my work, my savings, my legal team, my ability to support my family and much of my health.

“My wife and children live every day under the shadow of uncertainty. We remortgaged our home just to survive.

“Any costs or interim payments must be proportionate to my means as a single household, not the unlimited resources of a major media conglomerate.

“A crushing order would not just punish me, it would punish my children and wife, and they do not deserve that.”

Detailing GNM’s spend, Mr Millar said about 40,000 documents, including audio recordings and transcripts, had to be reviewed as a result of Clarke bringing the case against then. He highlighted a number of “misconceived applications” made by the actor which “required much work from the defendant’s lawyers in response”.

During the trial, the actor accused GNM – as well as a number of women who made accusations against him – of being part of a conspiracy aiming to destroy his career.

This conspiracy allegation “massively increased the scale and costs of the litigation by giving rise to a whole new unpleaded line of attack against witnesses and third parties,” Mr Millar said in written submissions to the court.

Clarke originally asked for damages of £10m, increasing to £40m and then £70m as the case progressed, the barrister said.

He must now pay GNM the £3m within 28 days, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled.

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