Virna Lisi

Virna Lisi
Lisi on 11 July 2009
Born	Virna Pieralisi (1936-11-08)8 November 1936 Ancona, Italy
Died	18 December 2014(2014-12-18) (aged 78) Rome, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1953–2014
Spouse(s)	Franco Pesci (m. 1960; died 2013)
Children	1
Awards	David di Donatello Best Actress 1980 The Cricket Best Supporting Actress 1983 Time for Loving Nastro d'Argento Best Actress 1990 Merry Christmas... Happy New Year 1997 Follow Your Heart Best Supporting Actress 1978 Beyond Good and Evil 1983 Time for Loving 1995 La Reine Margot 2002 The Best Day of My Life César Award Best Supporting Actress 1995 La Reine Margot Cannes Film Festival Best Actress 1994 La Reine Margot

Virna Pieralisi (Italian: [ˈvirna pjeraˈliːzi]; 8 November 1936 – 18 December 2014), better known as Virna Lisi [ˈvirna ˈliːzi], was an Italian actress. Her film appearances included How to Murder Your Wife (1965), Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966), Beyond Good and Evil (1977), and Follow Your Heart (1996). For the 1994 film La Reine Margot, she won Best Actress at Cannes and the César Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Career[edit]

Early career[edit]

Ancona-born Lisi began her film career in her teens. Discovered in Rome by two Neapolitan producers, Antonio Ferrigno and Ettore Pesce, she debuted in La corda d'acciaio (The Steel Rope, 1953). Initially, she appeared in musical films, like E Napoli canta (Naples Sings, 1953) and Questa è la vita (Of Life and Love, 1954, with Totò). Nonetheless, her beauty was more valued than her talent, as seen in Le diciottenni (Eighteen Year Olds) and Lo scapolo (The Bachelor) all films released in 1955, yet she filled demanding roles, particularly in La donna del giorno (1956), Eva (1962), and the spectacle Romolo e Remo (1961).

In the late 1950s, Lisi performed on stage at Piccolo Teatro di Milano in I giacobini by Federico Zardi under the direction of Giorgio Strehler. During the 1960s, Lisi appeared in comedies and participated in television dramas that were widely viewed in Italy. Lisi also promoted a toothpaste brand on television with a slogan that would become a catchphrase among Italians: "con quella bocca può dire ciò che vuole" (with such a mouth, she can say whatever she wants).^[1]

Hollywood career[edit]

Though she turned down the Tatiana Romanova role in From Russia with Love (1963),^[2] Hollywood producers sought a new Marilyn Monroe and so, Lisi debuted in Hollywood comedy as a blue-eyed blonde temptress with Jack Lemmon in How to Murder Your Wife (1965) and appeared with Tony Curtis in Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966). Lisi then starred with Frank Sinatra, in Assault on a Queen (1966), in The Girl and the General, co-starring with Rod Steiger, and in two films with Anthony Quinn, The Secret of Santa Vittoria, directed by Stanley Kramer, and the war drama The 25th Hour. She garnered attention for a photo of her 'shaving' her face that appeared on the March 1965 cover of Esquire magazine.

Later career in Europe[edit]

In The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1966)

To overcome her typecasting playing seductresses, Lisi sought new types of roles, of evil women or of a lover in relationships of disparate age for example. In those years, she participated in Italian productions, in Casanova 70 and Le bambole (1965), Arabella (1967), and Le dolci signore (1968). Lisi also starred in The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1966) which shared the Grand Prix (then equivalent to the Palme d'Or which was not awarded at the time) at the Cannes Film Festival that year.^[3]

In the early 1970s, she took a temporary hiatus from acting to spend more time with her husband Franco Pesci and their son, Corrado. Nonetheless, Lisi's career underwent a renaissance with a number of projects, including Al di là del bene e del male (1977), Ernesto (1979), and La cicala (1980). For the film La Reine Margot (1994), Lisi's portrayal of Catherine de' Medici won her both the César and Cannes Film Festival awards,^[4] along with a Silver Ribbon for Best supporting Actress. In 2002, Lisi starred in Il più bel giorno della mia vita.

Virna Lisi then participated in many sitcoms and TV series, her last movie was in the Italian comedy-drama Latin Lover in 2014, shortly before her death.

Death[edit]

On 18 December 2014, Lisi died of lung cancer in Rome at age 78.^[5]

Legacy[edit]

The Argentinian band Sumo (led by Luca Prodan) made a song for her, "TV Caliente a.k.a. Virna Lisi [es]" (1986), composed by Luca Prodan, whose brother, the actor Andrea Prodan, appeared with her in the movie I ragazzi di via Panisperna (1988). A Brazilian rock band named Virna Lisi [pt] (1989–1997) was named after her. Meilland International SA named a rose after her in 1989.

Filmography[edit]

Television[edit]

• Cenerentola (1961) as Cenerentola
• Il caso Maurizius [it] (1961)
• Una tragedia americana [it] (1962) as Sondra Finchley
• Christopher Columbus (1985) as Dona Moniz Perestrello
• Uno di noi [it] (1996)
• Desert of Fire (1997) as Christine Duvivier
• Balzac [fr] (1999) as Laure de Berny
• Cristallo di rocca [it] (1999) as Sanna
• Le ali della vita (2000) as Sorella Alberta
• Piccolo mondo antico (2001) as Marchesa Orsola
• Il bello delle donne (2001) as Contessa Miranda Spadoni
• Caterina e le sue figlie (2005–2010) as Caterina
• L'onore e il rispetto (2006) as Ersilia Fortebracci

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Virna Lisi.

• Virna Lisi at AllMovie
• Virna Lisi on IMDb