Sonia Viviani is a retired

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

and

glamour model A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Though ...

who is foremost known for her appearances in the Italian

exploitation cinema An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or Exploitation fiction, lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality "B movies", though some set trends, attract critical ...

and two films of acclaim in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

in the 1970s.

Film career

Viviani met with cinema at an early age due to her father's work at

Cinecittà Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios we ...

and started her career in

Pasquale Squitieri Pasquale Squitieri (27 November 1938 – 18 February 2017) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Life and career Born in Naples, Squitieri graduated in law, then was briefly involved in stage, as author ("''La battaglia''") and even a ...

's ''

I guappi ''I guappi'' (internationally released as ''Blood Brothers'') is a 1974 Italian historical drama film with "poliziotteschi" and " noir" elements. This film marks the meeting between Claudia Cardinale and the director Pasquale Squitieri, who soon b ...

'' (1974). She met Tony Askin who became her agent and a plethora of roles followed. Her first role worthy of mention was in ''Un urlo dalle tenebre'' aka ''The Return of Exorcist'' by

Franco lo Cascio Luca Damiano (born Franco Lo Cascio; 29 August 1946) is an Italian film director. Born in Rome, Lo Cascio started his career as the assistant director of Fernando Di Leo in almost all the films he directed between 1967 and 1974. In 1974, he ...

in 1975. However, her first lead roles came with two Osman F. Seden films: ''Teşekkür Ederim Büyükanne'' (1975), an adaptation of

Marino Girolami Marino Girolami (1 February 1914 – 20 February 1994) was an Italian film director and actor. Biography Marino Giorlami was born on 1 February 1914 in Rome, Italy. Formally a Professional boxer, Girolami ended his boxing career when he was 20. ...

film '' Grazie... nonna'' and ''Delicesine'' (1976), an adaptation of

Irving Wallace Irving Wallace (March 19, 1916 – June 29, 1990) was an American best-selling author and screenwriter. He was known for his heavily researched novels, many with a sexual theme. Early life Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Bessie Liss a ...

novel ''

The Fan Club ''The Fan Club'' is a novel by Irving Wallace published in 1974 about a group of young men who stalk and plan to kidnap and coerce a popular actress into having sex with them. Plot summary Adam Malone is a supermarket manager in Los Angeles ...

'' that featured Viviani with

Kadir İnanır Kadir İnanır (born 15 April 1949) is a Turkish film actor and director. Biography İnanır was born on 15 April 1949 in Fatsa, a town in Ordu province of Turkey. He acted in 43 films since 1967 and appeared on television in ''Bütün Çocuk ...

and

Fikret Hakan Fikret Hakan (born Bumin Gaffar Çitanak; 23 April 1934 – 11 July 2017) was a prolific Turkish film actor and a recipient of the honorary State Artist, a title awarded by the Turkish government. Hakan was born as Bumin Gaffar Çitanak in 1934 to ...

, two prominent Turkish actors. Her later films from mid-1970s to 1980s covered many exploitation genres ranging from

commedia sexy all'italiana The commedia sexy all'italiana (, lit. "sex comedy Italian style"), also known as commedia scollacciata or commedia erotica all'italiana, is a subgenre of Italian ''commedia all'italiana'' film genre. Style ''Commedia sexy'' is characterized typ ...

(''

L'adolescente ''L'adolescente'' (''The Adolescent'') is a 1976 commedia sexy all'italiana film directed by Alfonso Brescia. It starred Sonia Viviani, Daniela Giordano, Dagmar Lassander and Malisa Longo. Plot Vito Gnaula and Grazia Serritella are a Sicilian ...

'' (1976) by

Alfonso Brescia Alfonso Brescia (6 January 1930 – 6 June 2001) was an Italian film director. Brescia began working in film against his father's wishes, and eventually directed his first film '' Revolt of the Praetorians'' in 1964. Brescia worked in several gen ...

nazisploitation Nazi exploitation (also Nazisploitation) is a subgenre of exploitation film and sexploitation film that involves Nazis committing sex crimes, often as camp or prison overseers during World War II. Most follow the women in prison formula, only r ...

(''KZ9 - Lager di Sterminio'' (1977) by

Bruno Mattei Bruno Mattei (30 July 1931 – 21 May 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor who directed exploitation films in many genres, including women in prison, nunsploitation, zombie, mondo, cannibal, and Nazisploitation films. Ma ...

), and

zombie film A zombie film is a film genre. Zombies are fictional creatures usually portrayed as reanimated corpses or virally infected human beings. They are commonly portrayed as cannibalistic in nature. While zombie films generally fall into the horror g ...

(''

Nightmare City ''Nightmare City'' ( it, Incubo sulla città contaminata: released in the United States as ''City of the Walking Dead'') is a 1980 science-fiction horror film directed by Umberto Lenzi. The film stars Hugo Stiglitz as a television news reporter ...

'' (1980) by

Umberto Lenzi Umberto Lenzi (6 August 1931 – 19 October 2017) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and novelist. A fan of film since young age, Lenzi studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and made his first film in 1958 which went unr ...

) to

giallo In Italian cinema, ''Giallo'' (; plural ''gialli'', from ''giallo'', Italian for yellow) is a genre of mystery fiction and thrillers that often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, ...

(''Assassinio al cimitero etrusco'' (1983) by

Sergio Martino Sergio Martino (born 19 July 1938) is an Italian film director and producer, notable for his contributions to the giallo genre. Martino is the brother of the late producer Luciano Martino (who died in 2013). They collaborated frequently in their ...

) and peplum (''

The Adventures of Hercules ''The Adventures of Hercules'' ( it, Le avventure dell'incredibile Ercole) is the 1985 sequel to the 1983 film ''Hercules''. It was written and directed by Luigi Cozzi and has bodybuilder-turned-actor Lou Ferrigno reprising his role as the title ...

'' (1985) by

Luigi Cozzi is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...

). She ended her career in 1994 with ''

Le nuove comiche ''Le nuove comiche'' is a 1994 Italian comedy film directed by Neri Parenti. It is the third and final installment in the ''Comiche'' trilogy, preceded by ''Le comiche ''Le comiche'' is a 1990 Italian comedy film written and directed by Neri Pa ...

'' by

Neri Parenti Neri Parenti (born 26 April 1950, in Florence) is an Italian film director and writer. He is known for comedy films, including the series starring Paolo Villaggio playing the character Ugo Fantozzi, and a later series of '' cinepanettoni'' - zany ...

Glamour model

In the 1980s, Viviani appeared on covers and in pictorials of various men's magazines including the French edition of

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

and the Italian edition of

Penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

, particularly due to her ostensible similarity to

Princess Caroline of Monaco Princess Caroline of Monaco (Caroline Louise Marguerite; born 23 January 1957) is, by her marriage to Prince Ernst August, the Princess of Hanover. As the eldest child of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and Grace Kelly, she is the elder sister ...

.Sonia Viviani - Publicity
/ref>

References

External links

*
Sonia Viviani
bio at MyMovies.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Viviani, Sonia 1958 births Living people Italian film actresses Actresses from Rome