'Emmanuelle' actress Sylvia Kristel dies aged 60

THE HAGUE - Agence France-Presse

EPA photo

Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel, who starred in the iconic 1974 erotic French film "Emmanuelle" and over 50 other movies, died in her sleep overnight after suffering from cancer, her agent said Thursday.
 
"She died during the night during her sleep," Marieke Verharen of Features Creative Management told AFP of the 60 year-old actress who had been admitted to an Amsterdam hospital in July following a stroke.
 
Kristel is survived by a son, Arthur, who she had in 1975 with her then-husband Belgian author Hugo Claus.
 
Kristel became famous with her first movie, "Emmanuelle", which described the erotic adventures of a young woman in Asia. A worldwide success, it was shown in a cinema on the Champs-Elysees in Paris for 13 years.
 
A series of sequels followed, also starring Kristel, with "Emmanuelle 2" in 1975, "Goodbye Emmanuelle" in 1977 and "Emmanuelle 4" in 1984.
 
Verharen declined to say whether the world's most famous Dutch actress died at home or at hospital. The funeral will be private, she said.
 
Kristel had a stroke following treatment treatment for throat cancer. She was also suffering from liver cancer.