German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/342. Photo: Gérard Decaux.
Sword-and-Sandal Spectacle
Claudia Mori was born Claudia Moroni in 1944 in Rome, Italy. As a young girl she made her film debut in Cerasella (1959, Raffaello Matarazzo), featuring as the title character opposite Mario Girotti (aka spaghetti western superstar Terence Hill). The following year she had a supporting part as one of the laundrey workers who are the colleagues of Alain Delon in Rocco e i suoi fratelli/Rocco and His Brothers (1960, Luchino Visconti). Her first record was Non guardarmi (Don’t look at me) in 1961. She played another supporting part in the biblical epic Sodom and Gomorrah (1962, Robert Aldrich) starring Stewart Granger and Pier Angeli, and co-starred as a beautiful princess in the sword-and-sandal spectacle Ursus nella terra di fuoco/Ursus in the Land of Fire (1963, Giorgio Simonelli) with muscle man Ed Fury as the son of Hercules. In 1963 she met her future husband on the set of the comedy Uno strano tipo/The Strange Type (1963, Lucio Fulci). Immediately Adriano Celentano left his fiancee Milena Cantù for Claudia. It was the start of a great love affair and a long marriage. Mori appeared in Celentano’s crime drama Super rapina a Milano/Robbery Roman Style (1964, Adriano Celentano) and then she retired from the cinema, while in 1965 their first daughter, Rosita, was born.
Adriano Celentano. French postcard by Publistar/Editions Idoles, no. 763. Photo: Music Records.
San Remo Festival
In 1970 Claudia Mori won the San Remo Festival with the song Chi non lavora non fa l'amore (Who doesn’t work doesn’t make love). One of her biggest hits would be Non succederà più (It won't happen again) in 1982. In both songs she was accompanied by Adriano Celentano. The latter song which ranked #1 in the Italian charts in 1982, is a funny dig at the affairs of her husband. The pair also appeared together in a film, the historical comedy Er più: storia d'amore e di coltello/The Biggest: A Story of Love and Knives (1971, Sergio Corbucci). They teamed up again in the musical comedies Rugantino (1973, Pasquale Festa Campanile), L'emigrante/Little Funny Guy (1973, Pasquale Festa Campanile), Yuppi du (1975, Adriano Celentano) with Charlotte Rampling, and Geppo il folle/Geppo the Fool (1978, Adriano Celentano). In the comedy Culastrisce nobile veneziano/Lovers and Lunatics (1976, Flavio Mogherini) they co-starred with Marcello Mastroianni. Next Claudia played a serious role in in the thriller Bloodline (1979, Terence Young) based on a novel by Sidney Sheldon and featuring an all-star cast including Audrey Hepburn. Claudia Mori’s last film, Joan Lui - ma un giorno nel paese arrivo io di lunedì/Joan - But One Day I Arrive in the Country on Monday (1985, Adriano Celentano), was another musical comedy in which she starred opposite her husband. In this rather confusing film Celentano appeared as Jesus Christ. The enigmatic Celentano did the writing, directing, scoring and even editing of these vehicles all by himself. In 2008 his cult favorite Yuppi Du (1975) was restored and screened as a special presentation at the 2008 Venice Film Festival. Since 1987 she also emerged as a producer of TV series and TV films with her production company Ciao ragazzi!. Her TV film C'era una volta la città dei matti.../There Was Once a City of Fools (2010, Marco Turco) won several awards, including one at the Roma FictionFest Special Award for her achievements as a producer.
Sources: AllMovie, Wikipedia (Italian and English) and IMDb.
No comments:
Post a Comment