Italian screen siren VIRNA LISI dead at 78.
Local media reported the blond beauty died in her sleep a month after being diagnosed with an incurable illness.
Born in Ancona in 1936, she was an established cinema and Italian theatre actress before Hollywood producers looking for a new blonde bombshell to replace the late Marilyn Monroe the mid-1960s.
American audiences first saw her incalculable beauty in the imported sword and sandal epic “Duel of The Titans” where she played opposite Gordon Scott (Tarzan) and Steve Reeves (Hercules) in an epic tale of the birth of Rome.
Virna toplined with Jack Lemmon a cartoonist with mayham on his mind in "How to Murder Your Wife" in 1965.
She starred with Tony Curtis in "Not with my Wife, You Don't" and with Frank Sinatra in the sea-faring Rat Pack crime caper "Assault on a Queen“ (1966)
Reluctant to be typecast because her of beauty, Virna turned down the starring role in “Barbarella” which made Jane Fonda an international sex symbol.
She moved back to Europe after only three years of a seven-year contract with Paramount studios.
Virna also starred in in "The Birds, the Bees and the Italians," which shared the top prize, the Palme d'Or, at the Cannes film festival in 1966.
After taking a break from acting in the 1970s, Virna reinvented herself as a character actress.
Her portrayal of Catherine de' Medici in "La Reine Margot" (1994) saw her garner both a French Cesar and the best actress award at Cannes.
Ciao, bella…
