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Daniela Rocca (12 September 1937 – 28 May 1995) was an Italian actress, model and writer.[1]
Daniela Rocca | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 12 September 1937 Acireale, Italy |
| Died | 28 May 1995 (aged 57) Milo, Italy |
| Years active | 1955–1970 |
Biography edit
Rocca was born and raised in Acireale, a small town near Catania. She became Miss Catania in 1953, and was discovered by talent scouts after competing in a Miss Italy competition.
Rocca made her film debut in French director Maurice Cloche's Marchands de Filles (1957) and also appeared in the Riccardo Freda film Caltiki – The Immortal Monster (Caltiki – il mostro immortale, 1959), and Esther and the King (1960). More film roles followed, but Rocca did not garner international attention until Divorce, Italian Style (Divorzio all'Italiana, 1961). Rocca became a star after playing the part of the smothering wife Marcello Mastroianni is desperate to escape in Pietro Germi's international box-office hit. Rocca fell in love with Germi during filming and attempted suicide when he rejected her. After that, she was considered unstable and was not offered significant roles. A nervous breakdown led to a stay in a mental hospital.
After playing minor roles in movies and television, her show business career ended in 1967. She ended her days in a retirement home in Milo, near Catania. There she wrote four books: Agente segreto con licenza di vivere; Avvocato offresi; Il condannato a morte; and Psicoanalisi, sogni, fantasie nascosti nella mente; and a collection of poems, Ara.
Partial filmography edit
- La Luciana (1954)
- Il nostro campione (1955)
- Il padrone sono me (1955) - Nunziata
- Addio sogni di gloria (1957)
- Marchands de filles (1957) - Bettina
- Head of a Tyrant (1959) - Naomi
- Non perdiamo la testa (1959) - Volante
- Caltiki – The Immortal Monster (1959) - Linda
- Legions of the Nile (1959) - Teyrè
- The Giant of Marathon (1959) - Karis
- Austerlitz (1960) - Caroline Bonaparte
- Colossus and the Amazon Queen (1960) - Melitta
- Esther and the King (1960) - Queen Vashti
- Revenge of the Barbarians (1960) - Galla Placidia, Onorius' Sister
- Rome 1585 (1961) - Princess Alba of Portoreale
- Divorce, Italian Style (1961) - Rosalia Cefalù
- Peccati d'estate (1962) - Teresa
- The Captive City (1962) - Doushka
- I Don Giovanni della Costa Azzurra (1962) - Assuntina Greco, aka Géneviève
- L'attico (1963) - Silvana D'Angelo
- Symphonie pour un massacre (1963) - Hélène Valoti
- The Empty Canvas (1963) - Rita
- Behold a Pale Horse (1964) - Rosana, Mistress of Vinolas
- The Sucker (1965) - (uncredited)
- Assicurasi vergine (1967) - Carmela - don Pippo's lover
- Un giorno, una vita (1970) - Olga (final film role)
References edit
- ^ Wolfgang Achtner (2 June 1995). "Obituary: Daniela Rocca". The Independent. London.