Emmanuelle Riva, star of Amour, dies aged 89

From Digital Spy

Emmanuelle Riva has sadly passed away at the age of 89.

The French actress, who had cancer, passed away on Friday night (January 27) in Paris, according to The Guardian.

At the age of 85, Riva became the oldest ever Best Actress nominee at the Oscars for her turn as octogenarian music teacher Anne in Michael Haneke's critically acclaimed Amour, which scooped the Palme d'Or in Cannes.

She lost out to Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook at the Academy Awards, but did win Best Actress at the BAFTAs and the heartbreaking movie won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Tributes have been paid to the actress on Twitter:

Riva moved from rural France to Paris when she was 26, soon landing the lead role in Alain Resnais's timeless Hiroshima Mon Amour.

She went on to star in the likes of Kapò (1959), Léon Morin, Priest (1961), Thérèse Desqueyroux (1962), Three Colours: Blue (1993) and Skylab (2011). Riva completed filming on Alma in Iceland last summer, and also performed at the Villa Medici in Rome.

Riva previously said of her late career acclaim: "[Amour] is such a wonderful, marvellous, extraordinary gift. I cannot tell you how happy I am. Completely happy. The whole thing is like a fairytale."

Noted for her privacy, Riva kept her battle with cancer private. She never married and had no children.

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