Bellissima! Italian starlets of the 1950s

Gina Lollobrigida, Silvana Mangano, Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale were among the best-known women in Italy in the 1950s and early 1960s. Thanks to their films, Rome became again one of the film capitals of the world. The stars were all generally renowned for their full figures, dark hair and sexy screen images. They were the top cats of Cinecittà but there were many other ladies who aspired to become famous. Some became well-known divas, some married rich and others were sadly forgotten. Here are 16 of these sweet and sexy starlets from 1950s Italy.


Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 152.

Sandra Milo (1933) made her film debut alongside Alberto Sordi in Lo scapolo/The Bachelor (Antonio Pietrangeli, 1955) and performed in saucy comedies and steamy melodramas. She had her breakthrough in Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963) and Giulietta degli spiriti/Juliet of the Spirits (1965), but she also worked with the famous directors Antonio Pietrangeli and Roberto Rossellini.


Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1509.

Alba Arnova (1930-2018) was an Italian-Argentine ballerina and film actress. During the 1950s, she appeared in dozens of Italian films, often as a dancer. A scandal around a semi-nude appearance in a TV show caused her to be banned from Italian television.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 498. Photo: Vaselli.

Dorian Gray (1928-2011) made her film debut in the crime drama Amo un assassin/Appointment for Murder (Baccio Bandini, 1951) with Delia Scala. The role she played most often in films was that of a seductive sex kitten in comedies like Totò, Peppino e i fuorilegge/Totò, Peppino, and the outlaws (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1956). Later she became a very elegant Italian actress in films by Michelangelo Antonioni and Federico Fellini. In 1965, Gray completely vanished from the public eye.


Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano (Milan), no. 1656. Photo: Cineriz.

Sexy French actress and model Irène Tunc (1935-1972) was crowned Miss France in 1954 at the age of 19. One of her first film roles was opposite Franco Fabrizi and Gabriele Ferzetti in the Italian comedy-drama Camilla (Luciano Emmer, 1954). In Italy, she also appeared with Alberto Sordi in Bravissimo (Luigi Filippo D'Amico, 1955). Until her premature death in a car crash, she appeared in 35 films and television shows.


Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 193.

Sexy film actress Luisa Rivelli (1931-2013) played supporting parts in films like the comedy Non è mai troppo tardi/It's Never Too Late (Filippo Walter Ratti, 1953), based on the novel 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens, La signora senza camelie/Camille Without Camelias (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1953), and La legge/The Law (Jules Dassin, 1959) starring Gina Lollobrigida. She appeared in 50 films between 1943 and 1994 and also was seen often on Italian television.


Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1199.

At the age of 15, Milly Vitale (1933-2006) made her film debut in the Dostoyevsky adaptation I fratelli Karamazoff/The Brothers Karamazoff (Giacomo Gentilomo, 1947), starring Fosco Giachetti. She played her first leading role in the historical melodrama La sepolta viva/Buried Alive (Guido Brignone, 1949) as an innocent girl thrown into a dungeon. She had her breakthrough in the political drama Anni Difficili/The Difficult Years (Luigi Zampa, 1950). Vitale also appeared in a few Hollywood films but never achieved star status like her contemporaries Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida.


Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 339. Photo: Minerva Film.

Gorgeous Italian actress Silvana Pampanini (1925-2016) knew enormous popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. In the early 1950s, before Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida reached stardom, Pampanini was one of the most well-known symbols of Italian beauty.


German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin-Charlottenburg, no. S 737. Photo: Unitalia-Film / Dial.

Glamorous Elsa Martinelli (1932-2017) was an Italian actress and former fashion model. She showed her beautiful curves in many European and Hollywood productions of the 1950s and 1960s, but somehow never became the star she was destined to become in the mid-1950s.


Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 174.

During the 1950s and 1960s, beautiful Italian actress and singer Giorgia Moll (1938) (or Georgia Moll) could often be seen on television and in the cinema, especially in many Italian B-films. With her pretty face and dream measurements, she became also a popular cover and pin-up model.


Italian postcard, no. 471.

Glamorous Italian starlet Nadia Bianchi appeared in several comedies and dramas of the 1950s and early 1960s.


Italian postcard by Casa Editr. Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 3407. Photo: G.B. Poletto / Paramount / Titanus. Marisa Allasio in Poveri ma belli/Poor but Beautiful (Dino Risi, 1957).

Italian actress Marisa Allasio (1936) was a glamorous starlet who appeared in nearly twenty pictures in the 1950s. She was nicknamed ‘The Italian Jayne Mansfield’. In 1958 her career stopped abruptly when she married and became a countess.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. 578.

The Italian model and actress Maria Frau (1930) was a very photogenic starlet of the European cinema of the 1950s.


Italian postcard by Bromofoto. Milano, no. 638. Photo: Dear Film.

Italian sex siren Rossana Podestà (1934) played in many European films of the 1950s and 1960s. She is best known as the stunningly beautiful leading lady of the international spectacle Helen of Troy (1956).


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, nr. 625, 1953. Photo: MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer).

Italian femme fatale Gianna Maria Canale (1927-2009) was a leading lady in international films of the 1950s and early 1960s. Her anatomy figured prominently in many sword and sandal epics and pirate adventures as sultry temptresses and princesses.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, no. 539.

Italo-Greek Antonella Lualdi (1931) was the fascinating leading lady of many Italian and French films of the 1950s and 1960s. Since 1949 her luminescent beauty has graced over 90 films.


Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano (Milan), no. 599.

Italian actress Maria Pia Casilio (1935-2012) appeared in 35 films between 1952 and 1997. She performed in many classic films by such great and respected Italian maestros as Vittorio de Sica and Luigi Comencini.