Italian actress Laura Antonelli, the
iconic star of Malizia and other erotic milestones who reigned
as a sex symbol in the 70s and 80s before a fall from grace saw
her end up poor and virtually alone, comforted by the rosary on
the radio, has died at age 73.
Antonelli died of a heart attack in her home in the small
seaside town of Ladispoli, near Rome, Sunday night.
The stuff of dreams for a generation of male filmgoers,
Antonelli appeared in over 40 films between the 1960s and early
1990s, winning popularity first in sexy movies and then in
auteur pictures.
She was also involved in a long and successful battle to
clear her name after being convicted of drugs offences, while
her struggles with botched cosmetic surgery latterly grabbed the
headlines, leading to her increased isolation.
Antonelli, whose real name was Laura Antonaz, was born in
1941 in the then Italian province of Istria, now Croatia.
She was best known for her role in the 1973 film Malizia,
directed by Salvatore Samperi, for which she won the Italian
National Syndicate of Film Journalists Award, the Nastro
d'Argento, for Best Actress.
The steamy tale of a recent widower and his growing boys'
lust for their new housekeeper in 1950s Sicily was a runaway hit
and touted as a sign that strait-laced and Christian
Democrat-dominated Italy was catching up with the sexual
revolution of other countries.
Antonelli went on to appear in a number of sex farces such
as Till Marriage Do Us Part/'Mio Dio come sono caduta in basso!'
(1974) in which she played a convent-bred girl who embraces the
facts of life with gusto.
In Wifemistress (1977) she played a repressed wife
experiencing a sexual awakening and in 'Passione d'Amore' (1981)
she reprised the steamy personas of her previous films.
Antonelli worked in more serious films as well, including
Luchino Visconti's last film, The Innocent (1976).
Her last film was a sequel to her breakthrough pic, Malizia
2000, in which she reunited with director Samperi in 1991.
Shortly afterwards, her star descended rapidly following
her arrest after police found cocaine in her home.
Her conviction for drug possession and dealing was
eventually overturned by the Italian Court of Appeals in 2006.
She died alone after having long since left the public
scene, with actor Lino Banfi one of her few remaining public
supporters in the industry.
Antonelli had returned to the Catholic faith of her youth
but, not daring to go to church for fear of the pitiless
paparazzi lenses, got her spiritual comfort from private prayer
and from the rosary broadcast by religious stations.
"Her death saddens me enormously and I am still anguished
that I didn't help her enough. An actress that beautiful and
talented shouldn't have ended like this," Banfi told ANSA.
"She was a fragile diva," he said.
"She was sociable, ironic, and generous...it was a tragedy
how she ended up," he said.
Claudia Koll, a sex symbol to a later generation who also
returned to the Church after a steamy career, sought Antonelli
out and often joined her great predecessor in prayer.
"I went to see her in Ladispoli and we both sought comfort
in Christ," said Koll, a multiple star for soft-porn king Tinto
Brass.
"I gave her a painting of the Face of Christ overlaying the
Holy Shroud of Turin," Koll told ANSA.
"I pray for her, but I would have liked to do more," Koll
added.
Jean-Paul Belmondo remembered Antonelli as his "adorable"
former girlfriend Laura.
"Laura was for me above all an adorable companion, of
exceptional charm," said the French acting legend, 82, who met
Antonelli on the set of Claude Chabrol's Trap for a Wolf
in 1972 and had a nine-year-long headline-grabbing relationship
with her.
Actor and director Michele Placido told ANSA of his
"exciting, but nervous" meeting with the then sex symbol on the
set of 'Mio dio come sono sono caduta in basso'.
"Thank God I met her when she was divine, the nation's
Laura, loved by all Italians, myself included," he said.
"She disturbed my dreams," he said.
Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini paid tribute to
Antonelli as an "exceptional actress" while Northern League
leader Matteo Salvini voiced the fond memories of many ordinary
fans by tweeting "Great Laura, farewell. You made a whole
generation dream..."
Antonelli will be buried in Ladispoli, most likely after
Friday pending arrival of her brother Claudio from Canada, said
Roberto Ussia, Ladispoli's councillor for social services.
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