Jewellery lover Italian actress Virna Lisi

Jewellery lover Italian actress Virna Lisi (8 November 1936 – 18 December 2014)

Jewellery lover Italian actress Virna Lisi
During her Hollywood experience Virna Lisi worked with such actors as Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Frank Sinatra and many more. In different periods she had a chance to play with many talented and legendary European actors and actresses. In particular, Marcello Mastroianni, Franco Nero, Timothy Dalton, Anna Magnani, Alberto Sordi, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau, Claudia Cardinale and Stefania Sandrelli. The movie list of Virna Lisi, the winner of the Cesar prize at the Cannes Film Festival, includes more than 107 films, for period 1953 – 2011.

Gorgeous Italian actress Virna Lisi

Born in the Italian city of Ancona in 1936, Virna Pieralisi started her film career in adolescence. It was when a good friend of the family, singer Giacomo Rondinella was struck by her beauty. Meanwhile, she made her debut in 1953 in the movie “The Steel Rope”. In subsequent years, she starred in a number of Italian films and musical comedies. Among them – “And Naples Sings”, Eighteen Year Olds, The Bachelor (1953), and “Les Hussards”, New Moon, and The Woman of the Day (1955). Besides, in the early 1960s took part in several TV projects.

Meanwhile, after the death of Marilyn Monroe Hollywood bosses frantically searched for a replacement of mega star and sex symbol. Accordingly, producers invited Virna Lisi to the film “How to Murder Your Wife” (1964), and her role was simple in terms of acting. By the way, even partners were the same that starred with Monroe. In fact, as many say, Monroe worked almost exclusively with her texture and was quite feeble actress. For decades Virna Lisi appeared in several motion pictures. Among them – “Not with My Wife, You Don’t!” (1966) and “Assault on a Queen” (1966). And her colleagues on the screen were Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Frank Sinatra.

Interestingly, in 1965, the photo of shaving Virna Lisi in magazine ‘Esquire’ has flown around the whole world. Also, successful became the projects in the late 1960s – her role in the film “The 25th Hour”, “Arabella” (1967) and “The Secret of Santa Vittoria” (1969).

The following years, Virna Lisi was shot mostly at home. Also, in 1984 she became a prize winner at the “Cesar” and the Cannes Film Festival for her role of Queen Catherine de Medici in the historical drama “Queen Margot”. In subsequent years, the actress has appeared only once on the big screen, acting solely in television movies and series.

Married Franco Sands in 1960, Virna Lisi gave birth to a son, Corrado in July 1962. In addition to working in the movie, she was playing in the theater. Awarded a special prize “David Donatello” (1996) for the work as a whole, and the Prize for her career at the IFF Flaino, Italy, 1995.
Noteworthy, Lisi has retained her beauty to old age. She died on 18 December 2014 in Rome of cancer at age 78.