Virna Lisi

Stunning Italian actress 'Virna Lisi' (qv), a brief but lovely Hollywood import in the 1960's, was merely one of a plethora of European movie beauties who proved over the course of their long careers, that they were capable of more than just visual performances.Born Virna Lisa Pieralisi on November 8, 1936, she began her film career as a 17-year-old teen with a co-starring part with the musical drama _...e Napoli canta! (1953)_ (qv) (Naples Sings!). Cast initially for her photographic beauty, she gained more experience in such early pictures as _Lettera napoletana (1954)_ (qv) and _Das Todesseil (1954)_ (qv) before earning her first top-billed movie lead in _Piccola santa (1954)_ (qv) opposite 'Rosario Borelli' (qv). Other late 50's/early 60's films that helped steam up her image included _New Moon (1955)_ (qv), _Eighteen Year Olds (1955)_ (qv), _Unterm Leuchtturm der Liebe (1955)_ (qv), _The Doll That Took the Town (1957)_ (qv), _Lost Souls (1959)_ (qv) opposite 'Jacques Sernas' (qv), _Don't Tempt the Devil (1963)_ (qv) (Don't Tempt the Devil), _Seine Exzellenz bleibt zum Essen (1961)_ (qv) (His Excellency Stayed to Dinner], the Italian-made spectacle, _Duel of the Titans (1961)_ (qv) and an innocent role in the French-made _Eva (1962)_ (qv) starring the scheming 'Jeanne Moreau' (qv) in the title role.The pert and sexy star later made a decorative dent in late 1960's Hollywood as a tempting blue-eyed blonde opposite the likes of 'Jack Lemmon' (qv) in _How to Murder Your Wife (1965)_ (qv), 'Frank Sinatra' (qv) in _Assault on a Queen (1966)_ (qv) and 'Tony Curtis' (qv) in _Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966)_ (qv). Confined once again to the same type of glamour roles (she turned down the title role of "Barbarella"), she returned to Europe within a couple of years but hardly fared better with such nothing special movies as _Ladies, Ladies (1967)_ (qv), _Das Mädchen, das nicht nein sagen konnte (1968)_ (qv), _Pascal (1969)_ (qv), _The Statue (1971)_ (qv), _Bluebeard (1972)_ (qv) and _White Fang (1973)_ (qv) and its sequel _Challenge to White Fang (1974)_ (qv).Come middle age, however, a career renaissance occurred for Virna. She began to be perceived as more than just a tasty dish and was given a wide variety of quality mature performances. As the stature of her films improved, she began winning foreign awards right and left for such European pictures as _Beyond Good and Evil (1977)_ (qv), _The Cricket (1980)_ (qv), _Time for Loving (1983)_ (qv), _Gino & Elvira - Alte Liebe rostet nicht (1989)_ (qv) and _Geh', wohin Dein Herz Dich trägt (1996)_ (qv) (Follow Your Heart). It all culminated in the lifetime role of the malevolent "Caterina de Medici" in _Queen Margot (1994)_ (qv) for which she captured both the César and Cannes Film Festival awards, not to mention the Italian Silver Ribbon award.Virna continued reigning supreme on TV as a character lead and support player into the millennium with parts in such TV movies as the title role in _Anna's World (2004)_ (qv) and _Donne sbagliate (2007)_ (qv) (Steel Women) as well as Italian TV series work. Starring as the matriarch in the excellent family film drama _Der schönste Tag in meinem Leben (2002)_ (qv), Virna would find her last excellent movie role in the award-winning dramedy _Latin Lover (2015)_ (qv). Having passed away on December 14, 2014, at age 78, of lung cancer, the actress received a couple of award nominations posthumously for her work here. Survived by her son Corrado, her longtime husband (from 1960), architect Franco Pesci (1934-2013), died a year earlier.::Gary Brumburgh / [email protected]