Olga Villi (20 January 1922 – 12 August 1989), was an Italian model and actress.
Olga Villi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Olga Villani 20 January 1922 |
| Died | 12 August 1989 (aged 67) Rapallo, Italy |
| Occupation | actress |
Life and career
editBorn in Suzzara, Mantua as Olga Villani, Villi began to work, only twelve years old, as a saleswoman and seamstress at the Milanese fashion house Biki.[1]
A few years later her employer hired her as a model; noted by Macario, she was hired by him in 1942 for the rivista-operetta Il grillo al castello, where she had to act, sing and dance.[1] Thanks to the success of the show Villi became one of the most quoted soubrettes of the period, working with Anna Magnani, Nino Taranto and Alberto Sordi, and in mid-1940s she also starred in several drama plays, working among others with Luchino Visconti, Alessandro Blasetti and Giorgio Strehler.[1][2]
Also active in films and on television, in 1967 Villi won a Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actress thanks to her performance in Pietro Germi's The Birds, the Bees and the Italians.[3] After having announced her retirement in 1972, she came back on stage in 1984.[2]
She was married to the nobleman Raimondo Lanza di Trabia until his suicide in 1954.[1][4] Villi died after a long illness in Rapallo, where she lived for about thirty years.[2]
Selected filmography
edit- Macario Against Zagomar (1944)
- Christmas at Camp 119 (1948)
- Letter at Dawn (1948)
- Yvonne of the Night (1949)
- Four Red Roses (1952)
- Half a Century of Song (1952)
- Adriana Lecouvreur (1955)
- Sex Quartet (1966)
- The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1966)
- Il fischio al naso (1967)
References
edit- ^ a b c d Enrico Lancia, Roberto Poppi (2003). Dizionario del cinema italiano - Le Attrici. Gremese Editore, 2003. pp. 36–37. ISBN 888440214X.
- ^ a b c "Due protagonisti dello spettacolo". La Repubblica. 15 August 1989. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
- ^ Enrico Lancia (1998). I premi del cinema. Gremese Editore, 1998. pp. 233, 249. ISBN 88-7742-221-1.
- ^ Tano Gullo (3 January 2007). "Lanza il principe irrequieto". La Repubblica. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
External links
edit- Olga Villi at IMDb
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