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1-8 of 8
- Daniela Rocca was a beautiful and talented model, actress and writer, born in one of the poorest districts of Sicily, who found fleeting success in Italian cinema. Although she had envisioned herself as a writer, she entered a beauty pageant, was elected Miss Catania in 1953, and after competing for the Miss Italy title, she made her screen debut in 1954 in «La Luciana».
Rocca was cast in horror films as Riccardo Freda's «Caltiki, the Immortal Monster» (co-directed by Mario Bava) and international productions as Abel Gance's «Austerlitz», but her attractive looks made her ideal for the péplum genre, appearing in Fernando Cerchio's «Judith and Holofernes», Vittorio Cottafavi's «The Legions of Cleopatra», Bruno Vailati's «The Giant of Marathon» (also co-directed by Bava), Vittorio Sala's «The Queen of the Amazons» and most notably in the Italian-American co-production co-directed by Raoul Walsh and Bava, «Esther and the King», in which she played adulterous Queen Vashti, who dances to the court and ends her performance baring her breasts as an act of defiance to King Ahasuerus, and to the prudish film industries of those days.
The following year director Pietro Germi decided to make «Divorce Italian Style», a comedy denouncing the prohibition of divorce by Italian society, while being indulgent to crimes of passion. Germi gave Rocca the role of her career at 24. When she accepted to play an unattractive wife with a mustachioed upper lip, it was seen as an act of great courage for a young symbol of Mediterranean beauty. The movie became an international hit, she won the Best Actress award at the Avellino Neorealism Film Festival, and the movie received the Academy Award for Best Screenplay.
But Rocca had fallen hopelessly in love with Germi and when he rejected her, she attempted suicide. Although she continued to appear in films, by 1963 she was considered unreliable and received no film offers. She appeared in Fred Zinnemann's «Behold a Pale Horse» in 1964, but fell into a state of severe depression. She recovered in a mental institution, in Palermo. In 1978 Rocca gave and interview to Marco Bellocchio for the documentary «The Cinema Machine», in which the actress claimed she had been abandoned by her former colleagues. "They said I was crazy, when all I had was a nervous breakdown. They sent me off to the hospital. It took a long time for the doctors to realize that I wasn't mad and let me go."
Daniela Rocca spent the last years of her life near Catania, at a retirement home where she wrote the books «Secret Agent with License to Live», «Lawyer for Rent», «Condemned to Death», «Psychoanalysis, Dreams, and Fantasies Hidden in the Mind», and the poetry collection «Ara».
A tragic symbol of short-lived fame in cinema and of unrequited love, Rocca was the object of two literary homages: the Argentine poet Juan Gelman dedicated a poem to the actress called «Theory About Daniela Rocca», and on April 12, 2016 Domenico Trischitta opened his drama in two acts «Quick Sands» in the Musco theater in Catania, based on her life. - Director
- Writer
Nuanxing Zhang was born in 1941 in China. Nuanxing was a director and writer, known for Sha Ou (1981), Sacrificed Youth (1986) and Nan zhong guo 1994 (1994). Nuanxing died on 28 May 1995 in China.- Additional Crew
- Actor
Monnesota-born Tom Mahoney was a choreographer who received his training in Minneapolis. In 1956, after having been choreographer on several TV variety shows, he was hired as choreographer on The Mickey Mouse Club (1955). He changed the dancing technique on the show to aim it at a young teen audience, rather than the pre-teen demographic the first season catered to, and in that respect there was more boy/girl dancing rather than the performers dancing by themselves, as in the first season.
After "The Mickey Mouse Club" went off the air, Mahoney continued to work for Disney, including choreographing the Disney musical Babes in Toyland (1961) with Annette Funicello. He also choreographed Annette's dancing in one of her "Beach Party" movies, Bikini Beach (1964).
He died in St. Paul, MN, in 1995.- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Actress
- Costume Designer
Jean Muir was born on 17 July 1928 in London, England, UK. She was an actress and costume designer, known for Play of the Week (1959), The Ruling Class (1972) and Anti-Clock (1979). She died on 28 May 1995 in London, England, UK.- Wolfgang Lippert was born on 27 October 1924 in Chemnitz, Germany. He was an actor, known for Haare hoch! (1958), Verwirrung der Liebe (1959) and Drei Mädchen im Endspiel (1956). He died on 28 May 1995 in Berlin, Germany.
- Actor
- Writer
Leslie Glazer was born on 4 March 1923 in Willesden, London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Scotch on the Rocks (1973), The Avengers (1961) and Suspense (1962). He died on 28 May 1995 in Canons Park, London, England, UK.- Henning Kronstam was born on 29 June 1934 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was an actor, known for Black Tights (1960), The Magical World of Disney (1954) and The Voice of Firestone (1949). He died on 28 May 1995 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
- B.G. Svensson was born on 4 April 1936 in Lund, Skåne län, Sweden. He was an actor, known for P & B (1983), The Simple-Minded Murderer (1982) and Jim & Piraterna Blom (1987). He died on 28 May 1995 in Lund, Skåne län, Sweden.