Valentina Cortese, an Italian post-war screen diva who was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar but lost out to Ingrid Bergman, died on Wednesday. She was 96. Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala announced the death of the Milan-born actress in a tweet, thanking Cortese for having "given us marvelous and unforgettable" performances on the screen and stage.

Cortese was a popular muse for leading Italian directors including Michelangelo Antonioni and Franco Zeffirelli. She garnered an Oscar nomination in 1975 playing a fading diva in Francois Truffaut's "Day for Night," a movie about making movies.