Tina Aumont was a beautiful and talented actress who had a prominent career in Italian cinema. She was the daughter of French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont and Dominican actress Maria Montez, who were both famous stars in Hollywood and Europe. Tina Aumont made her acting debut in the British film Modesty Blaise (1966), but later starred in many Italian films with renowned directors such as Tinto Brass, Sergio Martino, Mauro Bolognini, Francesco Rosi, and Federico Fellini. She also appeared in some American films, such as Texas Across the River (1967), Malicious (1973), and A Matter of Time (1976). She was known for her exotic beauty, her long hair, and her free-spirited personality. However, her life was also marked by tragedy, addiction, and legal troubles. She died in 2006 at the age of 60 from a pulmonary embolism, a sudden blockage of an artery in the lung by a blood clot.
Early Life and Career
Tina Aumont was born on February 14, 1946 in Hollywood, California. Her parents were Jean-Pierre Aumont and Maria Montez, who had met and married in 1943 while working on the film Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Tina’s mother was a famous actress known as the Queen of Technicolor for her roles in exotic adventure films. Tina’s father was a handsome and charming actor who had worked with stars like Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, and Gene Kelly. Tina was their only child and they spoiled her with love and attention.
However, Tina’s childhood was shattered when she was only five years old by the tragic death of her mother. Maria Montez died of a heart attack at the age of 39 while taking a bath in their home in France. Tina was devastated by the loss of her mother and developed a close bond with her father, who tried to comfort her and raise her as best as he could. He also remarried twice, first to actress Marisa Pavan in 1956, and then to actress Patricia Medina in 1961.
Tina was educated at a Swiss boarding school and later moved to France with her father. She inherited her parents’ passion for acting and decided to pursue a career in film. At the age of 17, she married actor Christian Marquand, who was 19 years older than her and had worked with her father in several films. She also changed her name to Tina Marquand and appeared in her first film under that name: Joseph Losey’s Modesty Blaise (1966), a spy comedy based on a comic strip.
Tina soon moved to Italy, where she found more opportunities and success as an actress. She worked with some of the most acclaimed Italian directors of the time, such as Alberto Sordi, Tinto Brass, Sergio Martino, Mauro Bolognini, Francesco Rosi, and Federico Fellini. She starred in films of various genres, such as comedy, drama, thriller, horror, erotic, and historical. Some of her most notable films include The Howl (1970), Torso (1973), Illustrious Corpses (1975), Salon Kitty (1975), and Fellini’s Casanova (1976). She also returned to Hollywood occasionally to work on some American productions, such as Texas Across the River (1967), Malicious (1973), and A Matter of Time (1976).
Personal Life and Problems
Tina Aumont’s personal life was not as glamorous as her film career. She divorced Christian Marquand in 1967 after four years of marriage. She then had several relationships with other actors and celebrities, such as Franco Nero, Helmut Berger, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Roman Polanski, Alain Delon, Marcello Mastroianni, and Klaus Kinski. She also experimented with drugs and became addicted to heroin in the 1970s.
In 1978, she was arrested in Italy for smuggling 400 grams of opium from Thailand in little Buddha statues. She claimed that she did not know what was inside the statues and that they were a gift from a friend. She was sentenced to three years in prison but managed to reduce it to nine months on appeal. She spent some time in jail but was later released on parole.
She continued to act sporadically throughout the 1980s and 1990s but her career declined due to her drug problems and lack of interest from producers. She also remarried briefly to Jean-François Ferriol in 1985 but they divorced soon after. She lived alone in a small apartment in Paris and suffered from depression and loneliness.
Death
On October 28, 2006, Tina Aumont died in Port-Vendres, a small town in southern France where she had moved to escape from the city. She was 60 years old and had been suffering from health issues for a long time. The cause of her death was a pulmonary embolism, a sudden blockage of an artery in the lung by a blood clot. She was buried next to her mother in the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris.
Tina Aumont’s death was largely unnoticed by the media and the public. She had been forgotten by many of her fans and colleagues and had no close relatives or friends to mourn her. She left behind a legacy of films that showcased her beauty, talent, and charisma, but also a life that was marked by tragedy, addiction, and isolation. She was a Hollywood starlet who became an Italian diva, but who never found happiness or peace.
