ELSA MARTINELLI
Information From IMDb
Date of Birth
30 January 1935, Grosseto, Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy
Birth Name
Elsa Tia
Height
5' 6" (1.68 m)
Spouse
Count Franco Mancinelli Scotti di San Vito (June 1957 - ?)
Mini Biography
Elsa Martinelli (3 August 1932 or 30 January 1935, according to different sources
is an Italian actress and former fashion model.
Born Elisa Tia in Grosseto, Tuscany, she moved to Rome with her family
and in 1953 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.
Douglas claims to have spotted her on a magazine cover
and hired her for his production company, Bryna Productions.
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 USA appearing films such as Four Girls in Town (1957)
with George Nader, 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 with Anthony Perkins, The V.I.P.s (1963)
with Orson Welles, Rampage (1963) with Robert Mitchum,
and Woman Times Seven (1967) with Lex Barker. In Candy (1968),
her co-stars were Charles Aznavour, Marlon Brando, Richard Burton,
James Coburn, Walter Matthau and Ringo Starr.
Since the late 1960s, she has worked in Europe in mostly foreign language productions.
Her last English language role was as Carla the Agent in 1992s Once Upon a Crime.
Her most recent appearance was in the 2005 European television series Orgoglio as the Duchessa di Monteforte.
Martinelli was first married to Count Franco Mancinelli Scotti di San Vito,
by whom she has a daughter, Cristiana Mancinelli (born 1958), also an actress.
She later was married to the Paris Match photographer and 1970s furniture designer
Willy Rizzo.
Trivia
Fashion model. Discovered in 1953 by designer Roberto Capucci,
while working as a barmaid.
Mother of actress Cristiana Mancinelli.
Measurements: 34-21-34 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
Filmography
Actor
2005 Orgoglio (TV series)...Duchessa di Monteforte
1999 Cabiria, Priscilla e le altre (short)
1995 Il barone (TV mini-series)...Maria de Martigny
1994 Alles Glück dieser Erde (TV series)...Carlotta Pirri
1993 Anni 90 - Parte II..Elsa (uncredited)
1992 Once Upon a Crime...Carla the Agent
1990 Arrivederci Roma (short)
1988 Pygmalion 88
1986 Atelier (TV mini-series)
1985 I Am an ESP
1979 Astuzia per astuzia (TV mini-series)
1979 Return of the Saint (TV series)– Vicious Circle (1979) … Renata Lucci
1976 The Red Carnation
1971 The Lion's Share...Annie - la propriétaire d'un bowling - l'amie de coeur de Maurice
1971 La araucana
1970 OSS 117 prend des vacances...Elsa
1969 L'amica...Carla Nervi
1969 Les chemins de Katmandou...Martine
1969 One on Top of the Other...Jane
1969 Misdeal...Gilberte de Baer
1969 If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium...Maria, Woman on Venetian Bridge
1968 Candy...Livia
1968 Madigan's Million...Vic Shaw
1968 Il mio corpo per un poker...Belle Starr
1968 Manon 70...Annie
1967 Woman Times Seven...Pretty woman - episode 'Super Simone'
1967 Le plus vieux métier du monde...Domitilla (segment "Nuits romaines, Les")
1967 Maroc 7...Claudia
1967 Qualcuno ha tradito...Laureen
1966 Come imparai ad amare le donne...Rallye driver
1965 The Tenth Victim...Olga
1965 L'or du duc...Sonia
1965 Diamonds Are Brittle...Juliette
1965 Je vous salue, mafia!...Sylvia
1965 Marco the Magnificent...The Woman with the Whip
1964 All About Lovin...Mathilde
1964 The Rogues (TV series)– The Real Russian Caviar (1964) … Maria Kuzenkov
1963 Rampage...Anna
1963 The V.I.P.s...Gloria Gritti
1962 The Trial...Hilda
1962 Scorched Skin
1962 The Pigeon That Took Rome...Antonella Massimo
1962 Hatari!...Anna Maria 'Dallas' D'Allesandro
1961 La menace...Lucile
1960 Love in Rome...Fulvia
1960 Le capitan...Gisèle d'Angoulême
1960 Il carro armato dell'8 settembre...Mirella
1960 Blood and Roses..Georgia Monteverdi
1960 Call Girls of Rome...L'indossatrice romana
1959 La notte brava...Anna
1959 Costa Azzurra...Doriana
1959 Tunisi top secret...Kathy
1959 Ciao, ciao, bambina...Diana
1959 The Boatmen...Mascha
1958 The Mine...Lucia
1957 Manuela...Manuela Hunt
1957 Donatella...Donatella
1957 Four Girls in Town...Maria Antonelli
1956 La risaia...Elena
1955 The Indian Fighter..Onahti
1954 Le rouge et le noir (uncredited)
1953 Se vincessi cento milioni...Anna (segment "L'indossatrice")