Who Are Those Gals? ~ Lina Franchi

 

Lina Franchi was an Italian actress known for her prolific career as a character actress in Italian popular cinema, where she appeared in numerous supporting and bit roles across genres such as poliziotteschi, commedie all'italiana, Spaghetti westerns, and gialli from the late 1960s through the 1980s.

Born on February 29, 1932, in Nemi, Italy, Franchi became a familiar presence in Italian films through her frequent uncredited or minor parts, often portraying everyday characters like villagers, market women, or passersby in productions directed by filmmakers including Fernando Di Leo, Bruno Corbucci, Carlo Verdone, and Enzo G. Castellari. She collaborated repeatedly with certain character actors and featured in notable titles such as “Milano calibro 9” (1972), “La mala ordina” (1972), “Tepepa” (Blood and Guns) (1969), “Squadra antifurto” (1976), “Amici miei – Atto II” (1982), and “Febbre da cavallo” (1976), contributing to the texture of Italy's genre cinema during its peak commercial era. She was sometimes credited as Bony Miles.

Franchi continued working into the late 1980s and passed away on August 5, 2007, in Rome, Italy, leaving behind a legacy as one of the most recurring supporting figures in Italian film of her time.

FRANCHI, Lina (aka Bonny Miles) [2/29/1932, Nemi, Rome, Lazio, Italy – 8/5/2007, Rome, Lazio, Italy] – fotonovela, film, TV actress.

The Big Gundown – 1966 (cantina waitress)

A Stranger in Paso Bravo – 1966 (saloon employee)

Thompson 1880 – (street vendor)

Any Gun Can Play – 1967 (woman behind window)

A Colt in the Hand of the Devil – 1967 (saloon girl)

Days of Vengeance – 1967 (saloon girl)

The Dirty Outlaws – 1967 (saloon girl)

Kill and Pray – 1967 (Mexican)

Last of the Badmen – 1967 (cantina girl)

Sartana – 1967 (Hollman maid)

Shotgun – 1967 (Mexican woman)

Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die! – 1967 (whore)

Blood and Guns – 1968

Ciccio Forgives…I Don’t! – 1968 (saloon girl)

Cry of Death – 1968 (framer’s wife)

Drop Them or I’ll Shoot – 1968 (saloon girl)

The Longest Hunt – 1968 (Rosita) [Bonnie Miles]

Lynching – 1968 (farmer’s wife)

Shadow of Sartana… Shadow of Death – 1968 (frightened woman)

Tequila Joe – 1968 (Señora Conchita Rodriguez)

Twice a Judas – 1968 (cantina girl)

Zorro the Fox – 1968 (maid)

The 5-Man Army – 1969 (observers at Esteban’s execution)

Quintana – 1969 (townswoman)

Adiós, Sabata – 1970 (Mexican woman)

Blazing Guns – 1971 (Woman spitting on Don Firmino)

Guns for Dollars – 1971 (Mexican revolutionary)

Holy Water Joe – 1971 (bank patron)

He was Called the Holy Ghost – 1971 (Rosita)

The Last Traitor – 1971 (maid)

Return of Sabata – 1971 (saloon girl)

The Last Traitor – 1971 (maid)

Trinity is STILL My Name – 1971 (townswoman)

Two Sons of Trinity – 1971 (Calamity Jane’s friend)

Return of the Holy Ghost – 1972 (Elizabeth’s/Suomi’s mother)

7 Devils on Horseback – 1972 (Tornado’s woman)

Trinity & Sartana Those Sons of Bitches – 1972 (saloon girl)

Bad Kids of the West – 1973 (River City Townswoman)

Carambola – 1973 (Laredo merchant)

Seven Nuns in Kansas City – 1973 (Big Ton nun)

Trinity, the Bell, the Guitar – 1974 (poker cheater partner)

Eh? Who’s Afraid of Zorro! – 1975 (Constanza)

The Genius – 1975 (Mary Gomez) [as Bonny Miles]

The Tiger from the River Kwai – 1975 (townswoman)

White Fang and the Hunter – 1975 (wedding guest)

Zorro – 1975 (tavern housekeeper)

Buddy Goes West – 1981 (waitress)