Fellini's muse and Italian film icon Sandra Milo dies at 90

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Sandra Milo, an icon of Italian cinema who played a key role in Federico Fellini’s “8½” and later became his muse, died Monday, her family said. Born Elena Salvatrice Greco, Milo had her break in Roberto Rossellini’s 1959 film “Il generale Della Rovere.” She went onto star with some of the greats of Italy’s post-war film industry, including Alberto Sordi and Marcello Mastroianni, with whom she appeared in the Oscar-winning “8½.” Milo played Carla, the mistress to Mastroianni’s film director Guido. Fellini later cast her alongside his own wife in the 1965 film “Juliet of the Spirits.” Two decades later Milo recounted their 17-year secret love affair in her indirectly autobiographical book, “Caro Federico.” Milo became a fixture on Italian television as a talk show host, and in 1990 was the victim of an on-air prank that went down in Italian television history as a tasteless precursor to reality TV's “Punk'd.” While Milo was hosting a talk show on RAI, a prankster called in and told her that her son, Ciro, had just been hospitalized after a serious car accident.