Virna Lisi

Virna Lisa Pieralisi (8 November 1936 – 18 December 2014), known as just Virna Lisi, was an Italian actress. Her international film appearances included How to Murder Your Wife (1965), Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966), The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969), Beyond Good and Evil (1977), and Follow Your Heart (1996). For the 1994 film La Reine Margot, she won Best Actress at Cannes and the César Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Early career
Born in Ancona, Italy, Lisi began her film career in her teens. Discovered in Rome by two Neapolitan producers, Antonio Ferrigno and Ettore Pesce, she debuted in La corda d'acciaio (The Steel Rope, 1953). Initially, she appeared in musical films, like E Napoli canta (Naples Sings, 1953) and Questa è la vita (Of Life and Love, 1954, with Totò). Nonetheless, her beauty was more valued than her talent, as seen in the films Le diciottenni (Eighteen Year Olds) and Lo scapolo (The Bachelor), both released in 1955. Despite this, she filled some demanding roles, particularly in La donna del giorno (1956), Eva (1962), and the spectacle Romolo e Remo (1961).

In the late 1950s, Lisi performed on stage at Piccolo Teatro di Milano in I giacobini by Federico Zardi under the direction of Giorgio Strehler. During the 1960s, Lisi appeared in comedies and participated in television dramas that were widely viewed in Italy. Lisi also promoted a toothpaste brand on television with a slogan that would become a catchphrase among Italians: "con quella bocca può dire ciò che vuole" (with such a mouth, she can say whatever she wants).

Hollywood career
Though she turned down the Tatiana Romanova role in From Russia with Love (1963), Hollywood producers sought a new Marilyn Monroe and so, Lisi debuted in Hollywood comedy as a green-eyed blonde temptress with Jack Lemmon in How to Murder Your Wife (1965) and appeared with Tony Curtis in Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966). Lisi then starred with Frank Sinatra, in Assault on a Queen (1966), in The Girl and the General, co-starring with Rod Steiger, and in two films with Anthony Quinn, The Secret of Santa Vittoria, directed by Stanley Kramer, and the war drama The 25th Hour. She garnered attention for a photo of her 'shaving' her face that appeared on the March 1965 cover of Esquire magazine.

Later career in Europe
VirnaLisi2.png To overcome her typecasting playing seductresses, Lisi sought new types of roles, of evil women or of a lover in relationships of disparate age for example. In those years, she participated in Italian productions, in Casanova 70 and Le bambole (1965), Arabella (1967), and Le dolci signore (1968). She turned down the part played by Jane Fonda in Roger Vadim’s Barbarella (1968). Lisi also starred in The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1966) which shared the Grand Prix (then equivalent to the Palme d'Or, which was not awarded at the time) with A Man and a Woman at the Cannes Film Festival that year.

She told The New York Sunday Times that after marrying Franco Pesci, an Italian builder and architect, she briefly retired from acting in the early 1970s to spend more time with her husband and their son, Corrado. Nonetheless, Lisi's career underwent a renaissance with a number of projects, including Al di là del bene e del male (1977), Ernesto (1979), and La cicala (1980). For the film La Reine Margot (1994), Lisi's portrayal of Catherine de' Medici won her both the César and Cannes Film Festival awards, along with a Silver Ribbon for Best Supporting Actress. In 2002, Lisi starred in Il più bel giorno della mia vita.

Virna Lisi then participated in many sitcoms and TV series. Her last movie was in the Italian comedy drama Latin Lover in 2014, shortly before her death.

Personal life and death
She was married to Franco Pesci, an Italian property developer and architect. They were married for 53 years until his death, a year before her. After her marriage she briefly retired from acting, saying: “My husband was not very happy about my career, Franco is a jealous man — thank God! After we married he tried to take me away from all this movie business.” She said he eventually relented.

On 18 December 2014, Lisi died of lung cancer in Rome at age 78. She is survived by a son, Corrado Pesci, and three grandchildren.

Legacy
The Argentinian band Sumo (led by Luca Prodan) made a song for her, "TV Caliente a.k.a. Virna Lisi" (1986), composed by Luca Prodan, whose brother, the actor Andrea Prodan, appeared with her in the movie I ragazzi di via Panisperna (1988). A Brazilian rock band named Virna Lisi (band) (1989–1997) was named after her. Meilland International SA named a rose after her in 1989.

Television

 * Cenerentola (1961) as Cenerentola
 * Il caso Maurizius (1961)
 * Una tragedia americana (1962) as Sondra Finchley
 * Christopher Columbus (1985) as Dona Moniz Perestrello
 * Uno di noi (1996)
 * Desert of Fire (1997) as Christine Duvivier
 * Balzac (TV miniseries) (1999) as Laure de Berny
 * Rock Crystal (1999 film) (1999) as Sanna
 * Le ali della vita (2000) as Sorella Alberta
 * Piccolo mondo antico (2001) as Marchesa Orsola
 * Il bello delle donne (2001) as Contessa Miranda Spadoni
 * Caterina e le sue figlie (2005–2010) as Caterina
 * L'onore e il rispetto (2006) as Ersilia Fortebracci