"Emmanuelle" Star Dead at 60

Sylvia Kristel played sexually liberated housewife in 1970s erotic film

Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel, who starred as a sexually liberated housewife in the 1970s erotic movie "Emmanuelle," has died of cancer at age 60.

"Emmanuelle," the story of a sexually adventurous young model and her husband on a trip to Thailand, became as big a worldwide sensation in the 1970s as E.L. James' "Fifty Shades of Grey" has in recent months. The softcore French film was that country's highest-grossing release of 1974 and became so popular with female French moviegoers that Columbia Pictures decided to distribute the movie in the U.S. "Emmanuelle" ultimately grossed $100 million worldwide, according to the Internet Movie Database—an exceptional sum for any film of its day and very rare for one with an X rating.