Elsa Martinelli

Before a Spaniard, Sara Montiel , went to Hollywood to “do India” in Yuma , an Italian, Elsa Martinelli , did the same thanks to the confidence of Kirk Douglas in Pact of Honor , composing the daughter of a Sioux chief . The year was 1955, and the beautiful model who starred on the covers of fashion magazines had no acting experience, unless her uncredited presence in the film The Red and the Black , an adaptation of Stendhal’s work to be considered as such. charge of the French Claude Autant-Lara and carried out the previous year.

This film directed by André De Toth, was Douglas’s first production through his company Bryna. According to the actor in her memoirs, she called Elsa Martinelli, who barely spoke English, and she did not believe that he was calling her, she even asked him to sing a song to show her that it was not a joke. The lack of knowledge of the language was not a problem, as she barely had a page and a half of dialogue, and Douglas saw that she “was charming and the rascal aspect of her was perfect for the role”. The debut was highly praised, and she had signed with Douglas for seven films, but there was no subsequent understanding, according to the actor, she accused him of holding her back and not giving her roles, for which she says that she literally tore the contract to pieces. According to Douglas, she always made several bad movies and then wanted to get back together with him,

Elsa Martinelli was born in Grossetto, in Tuscany, in 1935, in a large family of humble condition, there were eight siblings; As a teenager, she moved to Rome, where she worked as an errand boy, taking orders from a grocery store to homes. It was the designer Roberto Capucci who thought that she could be a good model, due to her type and beauty.

Although her debut occurred in Hollywood, where she established herself as an actress was in Italy, thanks above all to her formidable leading role in Mario Monicelli ‘s delicious romantic comedy Donatella , for which she received an award in Berlin. At that time, she also married Count Franco Mancinelli Scotti di San Vito, which allowed her, after tasting the tinsel of catwalks and Hollywood, the atmosphere of the aristocratic class, quite different from her modest origins. . She had with him her only daughter, Cristiana Mancinelli, also an actress. Following her annulment in 1968, she married Paris-Match photographer Willy Rizzo, with whom she remained until his death in 2013.

In Italy, Martinelli worked under the tutelage of producer Carlo Poni, but the titles that last the longest in the memory of the moviegoer are those he made with great American masters in 1962, Orson Welles’ trial according to Kafka’s novel, and Hatari! , delightful safari adventure comedy from Howard Hawks . Before that, he did Manuela (1957) under the orders of the Bondian Guy Hamilton , and later Hotel Internacional (1963), directed by the also British Anthony Asquith .

It becomes clear that Elsa’s career is uneven. She had star material, and the camera wanted her, but perhaps she did not know how to lead her career in the best possible way, being very prolific in the 60s with comedy and thrillers did not mean shining. Which means that among her films there are rather curiosities, such as knowing that she made Madigan’s Million with Dustin Hoffman , when he was not yet a star, far from it; or that the Spanish Julio Coll directed her in La araucana (1971).

Starting in the 80s, her appearance on screens is almost anecdotal, her last work in 2005 in the television series Orgoglio where she played the Duchess of Monteforte.