RIP Elsa Matinelli

Italian model and actress Elsa Martinelli died in Rome today, July 8, 2017. She was 82. She was born Elisa Tia in Grosseto, Tuscany on January 30, 1935. She was discovered in 1953 by fashion designer Robert Capucci, who introduced her to the world of fashion. Elsa became a model and began playing small roles in films. In 1956, Elsa won the Silver Bear for Best Actress as the 6th Berlin International Film Festival for playing the title role in Mario Monicelli's Donatella. She went on to star in many more films, including 1693's The VIPs and 1968's Candy, as he divided her time between Europe and the United Stated throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Elsa's last English-speaking role was as Carla the Agent in 1992's Once Upon A Crime, and her most recent appearance was in the 2006 European TV series, Orgoglio, as the Duchessa di Monteforte. Elsa was married twice, first to Count Franco Mancinelli Scotti di San Vito, and secondly to Paris Match photographer and furniture designer, Willy Rizzo, in 1968. Her only Euro-western was as the star of  “The Belle Starr Story” (1968) co-starring Robert Woods and George Eastman.