Carol André Smith was born in Paris, France on March 11, 1953. She is the
daughter of actress Gaby André
(Gabrielle Louise Mathilde Andreu
)
[1920-1972] and the sister of producer, writer E. Jeffrey Smith, She took her
acting name from her mother and became Carol André Growing up in Rome as the
daughter of French actress
Gaby André
and American businessman Ely Smith, Carole André already spent time on the sets
of
Cinecittà
at a very early age. In an interview, she remembered she "was always happy
at Cinecittà. It felt like I was in another dimension, where crazy things were
normal." In 1967, her mother was invited to
Tomas Milian's
home and showed him family photographs. Milian, who at the time was starring in
the
Spaghetti Western “
Face to Face”, presented them to the
director,
Sergio Sollima, who agreed to cast Carole, then
14 years old, in a small part. There followed another small part in another
Spaghetti Western later that year. At the age of 15, she acted in
Mario
Monicelli's black comedy :
Oh, Grandmother's Dead” (1969). In 1976,
André became famous when
Sergio Sollima, gave her the role of Lady
Marianna, "Pearl of
Labuan", in the successful TV series ‘
Sandokan’, which subsequently also
received a theatrical release. After this, and having in brief succession lost
both her parents to tragic circumstances, André left the world of cinema to
devote herself to her partner, the producer Paolo Infascelli, and their
newly-born son Elia Infascelli-Smith, moving to live among relatives in America
and also studying architecture and
interior
design. In 1980, she returned to Italy and appeared intermittently
in a number of
TV serials and cinematic films until the early
1990s. At the age of 40, André developed a passion for swimming and started to
compete in swimming tournaments for seniors. In 2018, she won the 200-meter
freestyle race at the "Campionati Regionali Master Lazio" at the
Zero9 pool in Rome under the name Carole Wendy Smith, setting a new record.
Today André now holds the position of International Marketing Director at
Cinecittà
ANDRE,
Carole (aka Carole André, Carole Andree, Carol Wendy Smith) (Carol André Smith) [3/11/1953, Paris, Île-de-France, France - ] – film, TV actress, daughter of actress
Gaby André (Gabrielle Louise Mathilde Andreu) [1920-1972], sister
of producer, writer E. Jeffrey Smith [1943-2018], mother of talent agent Elia
Infascelli-Smith [1999- ] with
producer Paolo Infascelli [19??-2008], married to banker Luigi Abete [1947- ] (19??-19??).
White
Fang – 1973 [sings: “Oh Johnny”]
