Rossana Podestà

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Rossana Podestà (born June 20, 1934 in Tripoli , Libya , † December 10, 2013 in Rome ) was an Italian film actress .

Life

Podestà spent her childhood in Tripoli, in what was then the Italian colony of Libia . She was the daughter of Italian settlers and therefore had Italian citizenship. After World War II , the Italians realized that they had no future in Libya and their parents moved her to Rome, where she soon devoted herself to acting.

While still at school, she made her film debut in 1951 in the Italian drama Tomorrow is Another Day (Domani è un altro giorno) by Léonide Moguy . In 1952 she starred in the adventure film Il moschettiere fantasma by Max Calandri . 1954 followed the film The Girls of San Frediano (Le ragazze di San Frediano) by Valerio Zurlini . In these roles, Podestà was initially almost exclusively committed to the carefree, uninhibited young girl.

Stir in the international film critics excited her in 1953 by her erotic role as Rossana in the Mexican film Surf passion (La Red) by director Emilio Fernández , who is also at the 1953 International Film Festival in Cannes was shown.

In the following years, Podestà was often used as a femme fatale and in the role of the irresistible seductress. She played in 1954 on the side of Kirk Douglas , Anthony Quinn and Silvana Mangano , the Nausicaa in the adventure film Ulysses (Ulisse) by Mario Camerini . She gained further international fame in 1956 as Helena in the film Die Schöne Helena (Helen of Troy) by Robert Wise .

This was followed by other roles in adventure films and costume films : 1956 in Secret Freight alongside Alan Ladd , 1958 in Pirates of Madagascar , 1960 The Revenge of the Barbarians (La furia dei barbari) by Guido Malatesta with Edmund Purdom as a partner, 1961 Antea - slave girl Roms with Guy Madison , 1962 fight of the gladiators with Philippe Leroy and also in 1962 the golden arrow as partner of Tab Hunter .

She then also had an important role in 1962 as Shuah in the monumental film Sodom and Gomorrah by Robert Aldrich , where she played with Stewart Granger , Pier Angeli and Stanley Baker .

In the 1960s, Podestà continued to star in adventure films, horror films and comedies, but almost exclusively in second-rate productions. In 1963 she was seen as Mary at the side of Christopher Lee in The Castle of Horror by Antonio Margheriti . In 1964 she starred in The Naked Hours (Le ore nude) , a film adaptation of a short story by Alberto Moravia . Also in 1965 she starred in the action film Operation Baalbeck (FBI operazione Baalbeck) .

Under the heading “Trio Con Brio”, she was featured in the March issue of US Playboy in 1966 with the German actress Christiane Schmidtmer and the British Shirley Ann Field . Your photos are from the Italian photographer Pompeo Posar .

This was followed by some erotic comedies such as 7 golden men , The super thing of the seven golden men (both 1965), Homo Eroticus (1971) and Priest - You shouldn't live without love (1971). All of these films were directed by Podestà's husband, actor and director Marco Vicario .

In 1980 she starred in the episode comedy Sunday Lovers in the episode directed by Italian director Dino Risi . She took her last film role in 1985 in the film drama Segreti segreti directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci .

Podestà was married twice. After her divorce from Marco Vicario, she was married to the mountaineer and journalist Walter Bonatti from 1981 until his death in September 2011 ; the couple lived in Dubino , Italy.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Rossana Podestà  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ È morta Rossana Podestà, dal cinema al lungo amore con Bonatti. In: La Repubblica of December 10, 2013 (accessed December 10, 2013).
  2. ↑ Roger Boussinot: L'encyclopedie du cinema , band N-Z, p 1327. Bordas. Paris 1989. However, he gives August 20, 1934 as his date of birth.
personal data
SURNAME Podestà, Rossana
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian film actress
DATE OF BIRTH June 20, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Tripoli , Libya
DATE OF DEATH December 10, 2013
Place of death Rome , Italy