Sylvia Kristel facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sylvia Kristel
Kristel in 1973
Born	Sylvia Maria Kristel (1952-09-28)28 September 1952 Utrecht, Netherlands
Died	17 October 2012(2012-10-17) (aged 60) The Hague, Netherlands
Burial place	Utrecht, Netherlands
Occupation	Actress model memoirist
Years active	1973–2010
Children	1

Sylvia Maria Kristel (born September 28, 1952 – died October 17, 2012) was a famous Dutch actress and model. She appeared in more than 50 movies during her career.

Early Life and Beginnings

Sylvia Kristel was born in Utrecht, a city in the Netherlands. Her father was an innkeeper. Her parents divorced when she was 14 years old.

Sylvia started her career as a model when she was 17. In 1973, she won the "Miss TV Europe" contest, which helped her become more well-known. She was very good at languages, speaking Dutch, English, German, and Italian fluently. She also knew a bit of several other languages.

Acting Career Highlights

During the 1970s, Sylvia worked with important French directors like Claude Chabrol and Roger Vadim. She also acted alongside Joe Dallesandro in the movie La Marge (1976), which was popular in France.

Sylvia was considered for many big movie roles but often didn't get them. For example, she was almost cast in Roman Polanski's film The Tenant (1976). Later, the director wanted her for another film, Damage (1992), but she was busy.

She was friends with director Sergio Leone, who wanted her to be in his movie Once Upon a Time in America (1984). However, the movie's producers chose another actress. Sylvia was also considered for the role of Lois Lane in Superman (1978). She also tried out for a "Bond Girl" role in several James Bond movies, but she was not chosen.

Sylvia also turned down many major roles in well-known films. These included King Kong (1976), Blade Runner (1982), and Scarface (1983).

In May 1990, Sylvia appeared in a TV show called My Riviera. It was filmed at her home and showed parts of her life. Her friend, the actor Gérard Depardieu, tried to help her get a role in the movie 1492: Conquest of Paradise, but it didn't work out.

In 2001, she had a small part in Forgive Me, a Dutch film. In 2006, Sylvia received an award at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. She won it for directing an animated short film called Topor and Me.

After not acting for eight years, she returned to the screen in the film Two Sunny Days (2010). That same year, she played her last acting role in an Italian TV film called The Swing Girls.

In 2021, it was announced that actress Sylvia Hoeks will play Sylvia Kristel in a movie about her life.

Personal Life

Kristel at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival

Sylvia Kristel had her first important relationship with Belgian author Hugo Claus. He was much older than her. They were together from 1973 to 1977. Their son, Arthur, was born in 1975.

Later, she had a relationship with British actor Ian McShane. They met while working on the film The Fifth Musketeer (1979). They lived together in Los Angeles. Sylvia also had a one-year relationship with French singer Michel Polnareff.

Kristel in 1998

After these relationships, Sylvia married twice. Her first marriage was in 1982 to an American businessman named Alan Turner, but it lasted only five months. She then married film producer Philippe Blot (1986–1991). She spent ten years with Belgian radio producer Fred De Vree until he passed away in 2004.

A book about Sylvia's life was written by Dutch journalist Suzanne Rethans. It was published in September 2019 and is called Begeerd en Verguisd, which means "Desired and Vilified."

Illness and Passing

Sylvia Kristel started smoking cigarettes when she was 11 years old. In 2001, she was diagnosed with throat cancer. She had treatments and surgery after the cancer spread to her lungs.

On June 12, 2012, she had a stroke and was taken to the hospital. Four months later, on October 17, 2012, she passed away in her sleep at the age of 60. She died from esophageal and lung cancer. Sylvia Kristel is buried in her hometown of Utrecht, in the Netherlands.

Filmography

Film

Television