Elsa Martinelli (born Elisa Tia; 30 January 1935 – 8 July 2017) was an Italian actress and fashion model.
Life and career
Born Elisa Tia in Grosseto, Tuscany, she moved to Rome with her family. In 1953, she was discovered by Roberto Capucci who introduced her to the world of fashion. She became a model and began playing small roles in films. She appeared in Claude Autant-Lara's Le Rouge et le Noir (1954), but her first important film role came the following year with The Indian Fighter opposite Kirk Douglas, who claimed to have spotted her on a magazine cover and hired her for his production company, Bryna Productions. Douglas subsequently signed her to a two pictures a year for two years non-exclusive contract with Bryna Productions in February 1956. She was loaned out from Bryna Productions to Universal-International Pictures in March 1956 for the film Four Girls in Town.
In 1956, she won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 6th Berlin International Film Festival for playing the title role in Mario Monicelli's Donatella.
From the mid-1950s through the late 1960s, she divided her time between Europe and the United States, appearing in films such as Four Girls in Town (1957) with Julie Adams, Manuela (1957) with Trevor Howard, Prisoner of the Volga (1959) with John Derek, Hatari! (1962) with John Wayne, The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962) with Charlton Heston, The Trial (1962) directed by Orson Welles, The V.I.P.s (1963) with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Rampage (1963) with Robert Mitchum, Woman Times Seven (1967) with Shirley MacLaine, and Candy (1968) with Marlon Brando. From the late 1960s, she worked in Europe in mostly foreign language productions. Her last English language role was as Carla the Agent in Once Upon a Crime (1992) with John Candy. Her final acting appearance was in the 2005 European television series Orgoglio as the Duchessa di Monteforte.
Personal life
Martinelli was first married to Count Franco Mancinelli Scotti di San Vito, by whom she had a daughter, Cristiana Mancinelli (born 1958), also an actress. In 1968, she married the Paris Match photographer and 1970s furniture designer, Willy Rizzo.
Death
Martinelli died of cancer in Rome on 8 July 2017, at the age of 82.
Filmography
The Red and the Black (1954) (uncredited) If You Won a Hundred Million (1954) as Anna (segment "L'indossatrice") The Indian Fighter (1955) as Onahti Rice Girl (1956) as Elena Nardi Donatella (1956) as Donatella Guiscardi Four Girls in Town (1957) as Maria Antonelli Manuela (1957) as Manuela Hunt (1958) as Lucia Prisoner of the Volga (1959) as Mascha Ciao, ciao bambina! (1959) as Diana Tunis Top Secret (1959) as Kathy Sands Wild Cats on the Beach (1959) as Doriana Bad Girls Don't Cry (1959) as Anna Call Girls of Rome (1960) as Marisa Blood and Roses (1960) as Georgia Monteverdi Il carro armato dell'8 settembre (1960) as Mirella Captain Blood (1960) as Gisèle d'Angoulême Love in Rome (1960) as Fulvia The Menace (1961) as Lucile Hatari! (1962) as Anna Maria 'Dallas' D'Allesandro The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962) as Antonella Massimo Pelle viva (1962) as Rosaria The Trial (1962) as Hilda The V.I.P.s (1963) as Gloria Gritti Rampage (1963) as Anna All About Loving (1964) as Mathilde Marco the Magnificent (1965) as The Woman with the Whip Je vous salue, mafia! (1965) as Sylvia Diamonds Are Brittle (1965) as Juliette (1965) as Sonia The 10th Victim (1965) as Olga How I Learned to Love Women (1966) as Monica the rallye driver Maroc 7 (1967) as Claudia The Oldest Profession (1967) as Domitilla (segment "Nuits romaines, Les") Woman Times Seven (1967) as Pretty woman (segment "Super Simone") (1967) as Laureen Manon 70 (1968) as Annie The Belle Starr Story (1968) as Belle Starr Madigan's Millions (1968) as Vic Shaw Candy (1968) as Livia If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969) as Maria, Woman on Venetian bridge (1969) as Gilberte de Baer Una sull'altra (1969) as Jane Bleeker The Pleasure Pit (1969) as Martine L'amica (1969) as Carla Nervi OSS 117 Takes a Vacation (1970) as Elsa (1971) as Inés de Suárez The Lion's Share (1971) as Annie (1976) as Zobeida I Am an ESP (1985) as Carla Razzi (1988) Once Upon a Crime (1992) as Carla the Agent