Prima ballerina dies

Ludmila Tcherina, who rose to early stardom as a French ballerina and later became an Oscar-winning actress, has died at the age of 79, the French culture ministerhas said. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Born on October 10, 1924, in Paris of a Russian aristocrat father and French mother, Tcherina made her name as a youth. At age 15, she became a prima ballerina with the Grands Ballets of Monte Carlo.