Rosalba Neri (born 19 June 1939) is a retired Italian actress.
Early life
Born in
Forlì,
Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Neri was regarded for her beauty even in youth, winning a
beauty pageant when she was still young. Eventually pursuing an acting career, she attended the
Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (Center for Experimental Cinematography) in Rome. She also received an offer to attend the
Actors Studio
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded ...
in the United States, but did not accept.
Career
She made her film debut in 1958 in the film ''Mogli pericolose''. She is uncredited in this comedy which was directed by
Luigi Comencini. Her second part was in
Roberto Rossellini's prize-winning drama ''
Era notte a Roma'' in 1960. Many sources list some earlier films for her, but this is a confusion with another Italian actress, the very similarly named
Rosalina Neri
Rosalina Neri (born 12 November 1927) is an Italian stage, television, film and radio actress.
Life and career
Born in Arcisate, Province of Varese, Neri started her career appearing in the 1954 Garinei & Giovannini's musical comedy ''Tobia l ...
.
Historical roles
In 1960, she appeared in two
sword and sandal films set in the Ancient world. The first was ''
Il Sepolcro dei Re
''Cleopatra's Daughter'' ( it, Il sepolcro dei re) is a 1960 historical drama film set in Egypt during the reign of the pharaoh Khufu (r. 2589-2566 BC). The film stars Debra Paget and was directed by Fernando Cerchio. For some reason, the Engl ...
'' (AKA ''Cleopatra's Daughter'' or ''The Tomb of the King''). This film tells the story of Nemorat, an Egyptian pharaoh who was instrumental in the creation of the pyramids of
Giza
Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9.2 ...
due to the intrigues surrounding his death and entombment.
The second was
Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh (born Albert Edward Walsh; March 11, 1887December 31, 1980) was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh. He w ...
's ''
Esther and the King
''Esther and the King'' ( it, Ester e il re) is a 1960 American-Italian religious epic film produced and directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Joan Collins as Esther, Richard Egan as Ahasuerus, and Denis O'Dea as Mordecai. Walsh and Michael Elkins ...
'' (1960), starring
Joan Collins as the Biblical Jewish Queen. Rosalba played Keresh and was assassinated by someone who mistook her for the Queen. Because of her dark, sultry beauty, Rosalba was often a natural fit to play certain legendary characters.
She was Ramses' intended bride in the
Hercules Adventure, ''
Il leone di Tebe (The Lion of Thebes)'' in 1966. She played
Delilah, the Biblical beauty who was the downfall of the Old Testament hero,
Samson, in ''
I Grandi Condottieri
''Gideon and Samson'': ''Great Leaders of the Bible'' (or ''I grandi condottieri'') is a 1965 Italian historical film directed by Marcello Baldi and Francisco Pérez-Dolz. Consisting of two segments, the first half tells the story of Gideon, whi ...
'' (''The Great Guides'') (1965). She returned to the genre in ''
The Arena
An arena is an enclosed area that showcases theatre, musical performances or sporting events.
Arena, ARENA, or the Arena may also refer to:
Places and jurisdictions
* Arena, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Arena, Iran
* Arena, Calabria, Italy
* La ...
'' (1974).
Although starring roles were few and far between for Neri, she worked steadily throughout the 1960s/70s in supporting and sometimes, nondescript roles, such as her turn as a harem girl in ''
El Cid
Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043 – 10 July 1099) was a Castilian knight and warlord in medieval Spain. Fighting with both Christian and Muslim armies during his lifetime, he earned the Arabic honorific ''al-sīd'', which would evolve into El ...
'' (1961).
Spy films
Neri had quite a few roles in
Eurospy intrigue films, often playing a less than saintly character. She was Faddja in 1965's ''
Superseven Chiama Cairo
''Super Seven Calling Cairo'' (Italian: ''Superseven chiama Cairo'') is a 1965 Italian Eurospy film directed by Umberto Lenzi and adapted from his own novel of the same name written under the pseudonym "H. Humbert". It stars Roger Browne as the t ...
'' (''Superseven Calls on Cairo''), one of the dangerous women that the spy, a
James Bond-like character, comes into contact with. Also in 1965, she appeared in ''
Due Mafiosi contro Goldginger'' (''
Two Mafiosi Against Goldfinger'').
In 1967, she was Amalia in ''
Password: Uccidete Agente Gordon'' (''
Password: Kill Agent Gordon''). The same year she played her first part for Spanish director
Jess Franco in a spy film send-up done in comic book style, ''
Lucky, the Inscrutable
''Lucky, the Inscrutable'' ( it, Agente speciale L.K.: Operazione Re Mida, es, Lucky, el intrépido, german: Lucky M. füllt alle Särge) is a 1967 Spanish-Italian-German spy film directed by Jesús Franco and starring Ray Danton. It marked the ...
'', starring
Ray Danton
Ray Danton (born Raymond Caplan; September 19, 1931 – February 11, 1992) was a radio, film, stage, and television actor, director, and producer whose most famous roles were in the screen biographies ''The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond'' (1960 ...
. In the following year she appeared in ''
OSS 117 - Double Agent
OSS or Oss may refer to:
Places
* Oss, a city and municipality in the Netherlands
* Osh Airport, IATA code OSS
People with the name
* Oss (surname), a surname
Arts and entertainment
* ''O.S.S.'' (film), a 1946 World War II spy film about O ...
'' (1968).
Spaghetti Westerns
She followed the trends of European cinema by appearing in several
Spaghetti Western
The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
s such as ''
Johnny Yuma'' (1966), ''
Arizona Colt
Arizona Colt ( it, Il pistolero di Arizona), also known as The Man from Nowhere ( it, L'uomo venuto dal nulla), is a 1966 technicolor Spaghetti Western directed by Michele Lupo and starring Giuliano Gemma, Fernando Sancho, Corinne Marchand.
Syn ...
'' (1966), ''
Long Days of Hate
''Long Days of Hate'' (Italian: ''I lunghi giorni dell'odio'', also known as ''This Man Can't Die'') is a 1968 Italian Spaghetti Western film co-written and directed by Gianfranco Baldanello.
Plot summary
Martin Benson is a Civil War veteran ...
'' (1968), ''
A Long Ride from Hell'' (1968), ''
The Reward's Yours... The Man's Mine'' (1969), ''
Arizona Colt Returns'' (1971), ''
Drummer of Vengeance
''Drummer of Vengeance'' ( it, Il giorno del giudizio, also known as ''Day of Judgment'', ''Doomsday'' and ''An Eye for an Eye'') is a 1971 Italian Spaghetti Western film written and directed by Mario Gariazzo and starring Ty Hardin, Rossano Bra ...
'' (1971) and ''
Man Called Invincible'' (1973).
Erotic horror films
Neri, the bombshell, was also much in demand for erotic ''
giallo'' thrillers,
horror
Horror may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Genres
*Horror fiction, a genre of fiction
** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction
**Korean horror, Korean horror fiction
* Horror film, a film genre
*Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...
, and
sexploitation film
A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film) is a class of independently produced, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sex ...
s. She was in
Jess Franco's box office hit ''
99 Women'' (1969), one of the first
women in prison films, and ''
Top Sensation'' (''The Seducers'') (1969) opposite
Edwige Fenech.
In 1972 she played
Farley Granger's wife in ''
Amuck!''. Granger plays a wealthy author who hires a beautiful secretary (
Barbara Bouchet) and engages in kinky sex games with her and his wife. Also in 1972, Neri played the lead role in the erotic horror flick ''
Lucifera: Demon Lover''.
Bouchet and Neri would team up in 1972 in another movie combining sex with horror, ''Casa d’appuntamento'' (''
French Sex Murders''). A jewel thief is accused of murdering a prostitute but is decapitated in a motorcycle accident prior to the trial. When those involved in the trial start dying off, everyone wonders if the dead man has come back to exact his revenge.
Perhaps Neri's best-known films are from the horror genre. Credited as Sara Bay, she played Tania Frankenstein, the daughter of the
monster
A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...
's creator, in 1971's ''
Lady Frankenstein''. Tania was willing to take her father's work to new – and frightening – levels. It is considered a
B movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
classic.
In 1972, she starred in ''
The Devil's Wedding Night
''The Devil's Wedding Night'' ( it, Il plenilunio delle vergini, lit=Full Moon of the Virgins) is a 1973 Italian horror film.
Plot
Two rival brothers are looking for the magic ring of the Nibelungen, a mystical jewel that confers all power to th ...
'' as Lady Dracula, a vampire who uses
Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
's ring to lure young virgins to her home so she can murder them and bathe in their blood (à la the medieval
Countess Elizabeth Báthory
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
). In Italy it was released as ''Il Plenilunio dell Vergini'' (''Full Moon of the Virgins'').
Retirement
Neri would appear in a few more films such as: ''
No Way Out'' (1973), ''Loving Cousins'' (1974), ''Blood River'' (1974) and ''Il pomicione'' (1976), which is her last credited film. In 1985 she did appear in the Italian miniseries ''Olga e I suoi figli'' (''Olga and her children'').
Selected filmography
*''
Escape by Night'' (1960)
*''
Esther and the King
''Esther and the King'' ( it, Ester e il re) is a 1960 American-Italian religious epic film produced and directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Joan Collins as Esther, Richard Egan as Ahasuerus, and Denis O'Dea as Mordecai. Walsh and Michael Elkins ...
'' (1960)
*''
Cleopatra's Daughter'' (1962)
*''
Hercules vs. Moloch
''Hercules vs. Moloch'' ( it, Ercole contro Moloch, french: Hercule contre Moloch, also released as Conquest of Mycenae) is a 1963 Italian/French international co-production peplum film written and directed by Giorgio Ferroni and starring Gordo ...
'' (1963)
*''
Hercules and the Black Pirates'' (1964)
*''
The Lion of Thebes'' (1964)
*''
Corpse for the Lady'' (1964)
* ''
Desert Raiders
''Desert Raiders'' (Italian: ''Il dominatore del deserto'') is a 1964 Italian adventure film directed by Tanio Boccia and starring Kirk Morris, Rosalba Neri and Hélène Chanel. It was one of a large number of peplum films made during the era.
...
'' (1964)
*''
3 Avengers
''3 Avengers'' ( it, Gli invincibili tre, also spelled as ''The 3 Avengers'' and ''The Three Avengers'') is a 1964 Italian peplum film written and directed by Gianfranco Parolini and starring Alan Steel.Michele Giordano. ''Giganti buoni''. Grem ...
'' (1964)
*''
I Kill, You Kill
''I Kill, You Kill'' or ''Io uccido, tu uccidi'' is a 1965 Italian comedy film directed by Gianni Puccini starring the comic duo Franco and Ciccio.
Cast
* Franco Franchi as Franco (segment "Cavalleria Rusticana, oggi")
* Ciccio Ingrassia as Tur ...
'' (1965)
* ''
Marvelous Angelique
''Marvelous Angelique''
(French: ''Merveilleuse Angélique'') is a 1965 historical romantic adventure film directed by Bernard Borderie. It is the second film in the Angélique series, based upon the novels by Anne and Serge Golon, and a seque ...
'' (1965)
*''
Super Seven Calling Cairo
''Super Seven Calling Cairo'' (Italian: ''Superseven chiama Cairo'') is a 1965 Italian Eurospy film directed by Umberto Lenzi and adapted from his own novel of the same name written under the pseudonym "H. Humbert". It stars Roger Browne as the t ...
'' (1965)
*''
Gideon and Samson'' (1965)
*''
Two Mafiosi Against Goldfinger'' (1965)
*''
The Spy with Ten Faces
''The Spy with Ten Faces'' (aka it, Upperseven, l'uomo da uccidere/ ''Upper Seven, the Man to Kill''), or german: Der Mann mit den tausend Masken/''The Man of a Thousand Masks'') is a 1966 Italian-West German Eurospy film written and directed b ...
'' (1966)
*''
Password: Kill Agent Gordon'' (1966)
*''
Johnny Yuma'' (1966)
*''
Arizona Colt
Arizona Colt ( it, Il pistolero di Arizona), also known as The Man from Nowhere ( it, L'uomo venuto dal nulla), is a 1966 technicolor Spaghetti Western directed by Michele Lupo and starring Giuliano Gemma, Fernando Sancho, Corinne Marchand.
Syn ...
'' (1966)
*''
Lucky, the Inscrutable
''Lucky, the Inscrutable'' ( it, Agente speciale L.K.: Operazione Re Mida, es, Lucky, el intrépido, german: Lucky M. füllt alle Särge) is a 1967 Spanish-Italian-German spy film directed by Jesús Franco and starring Ray Danton. It marked the ...
'' (1967)
*''
Long Days of Hate
''Long Days of Hate'' (Italian: ''I lunghi giorni dell'odio'', also known as ''This Man Can't Die'') is a 1968 Italian Spaghetti Western film co-written and directed by Gianfranco Baldanello.
Plot summary
Martin Benson is a Civil War veteran ...
'' (1968)
*''
A Long Ride from Hell'' (1968)
*''
OSS 117 - Double Agent
OSS or Oss may refer to:
Places
* Oss, a city and municipality in the Netherlands
* Osh Airport, IATA code OSS
People with the name
* Oss (surname), a surname
Arts and entertainment
* ''O.S.S.'' (film), a 1946 World War II spy film about O ...
'' (1968)
*''
99 Women'' (1969)
*' (1969)
*''
Marquis de Sade: Justine'' (1969)
*''
The Castle of Fu Manchu'' (1969)
*''
The Reward's Yours... The Man's Mine'' (1969)
*''
Arizona Colt Returns'' (1970)
*''
Slaughter Hotel
''Slaughter Hotel'' ( it, La bestia uccide a sangue freddo, "The beast kills in cold blood"), also known as ''Asylum Erotica'' and ''Cold Blooded Beast'', is a 1971 Italian giallo horror film directed by Fernando Di Leo and starring Klaus Ki ...
'' (1971)
*''
Drummer of Vengeance
''Drummer of Vengeance'' ( it, Il giorno del giudizio, also known as ''Day of Judgment'', ''Doomsday'' and ''An Eye for an Eye'') is a 1971 Italian Spaghetti Western film written and directed by Mario Gariazzo and starring Ty Hardin, Rossano Bra ...
'' (1971)
*''
Lady Frankenstein'' (1971)
*''
Lucifera: Demon Lover'' (1972)
*''
Amuck!'' (1972)
*''
Smile Before Death
''Smile Before Death'' ( it, Il sorriso della iena/ translation: ''Smile of the Hyena'') is a 1972 Italian giallo film written and directed by Silvio Amadio, and starring Rosalba Neri.
Plot
Marco, a bankrupt nobleman, is unhappily married to the ...
'' (1972)
*''
French Sex Murders'' (1972)
*''
The Mighty Anselmo and His Squire'' (1972)
* ''
Watch Out Gringo! Sabata Will Return'' (1972) as kidnapped girl
*''
The Devil's Wedding Night
''The Devil's Wedding Night'' ( it, Il plenilunio delle vergini, lit=Full Moon of the Virgins) is a 1973 Italian horror film.
Plot
Two rival brothers are looking for the magic ring of the Nibelungen, a mystical jewel that confers all power to th ...
'' (1973)
*''
No Way Out'' (1973))
*''
Man Called Invincible'' (1973)
*''
The Arena
An arena is an enclosed area that showcases theatre, musical performances or sporting events.
Arena, ARENA, or the Arena may also refer to:
Places and jurisdictions
* Arena, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Arena, Iran
* Arena, Calabria, Italy
* La ...
'' (1974)
*''
The Visitor'' (1974)
*''
Libera, My Love
''Libera, My Love'' ( it, Libera, amore mio...) is a 1975 Italian drama film directed by Mauro Bolognini and starring Claudia Cardinale.
Cast
* Claudia Cardinale as Libera Valente
* Bruno Cirino as Matteo Zanoni
* Adolfo Celi as Libera's father ...
'' (1975)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neri, Rosalba
1939 births
Italian film actresses
20th-century Italian actresses
Living people
People from Forlì