The film actress caused a global sensation in 1974 with the title role in Emmanuelle, about a promiscuous housewife..




PA
To millions of men, Sylvia Kristel will forever be the girl who inspired their first boyhood fantasies.

The film actress caused a global sensation in 1974 with the title role in Emmanuelle, about a promiscuous housewife.

It was one of mainstream cinema’s first erotic movies.

But today – 38 years and countless dreams later – many of the 650million fans who have seen it were in mourning after its glamorous star died, aged 60.

The Dutch actress had survived cocaine addiction, alcoholism, throat cancer, a stroke and also a string of doomed love affairs.

She owned homes in glitzy locations across the world – but lost them all after going broke.

The screen legend ended her days in a small flat above a cafe in Utrecht, Holland.

“Sylvia died in her sleep on Wednesday night,” agent Marieke Verharen said today.

And the film’s director Just Jaeckin said: “I am very sad. She was like a little sister.”

Emmanuelle caused huge controversy on release. It was initially banned in Paris and was heavily cut in Britain before eventually being given an X-certificate.

The unedited version did not appear here until 2007.

It was promoted by a photo of a partially-clad and to.