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Rosanna Schiaffino was born on 25 November 1939 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. She was an actress, known for La mandragola (1965), The Miracle of the Wolves (1961) and Romulus and the Sabines (1961). She was married to Giorgio Enrico Falck and Alfredo Bini. She died on 17 October 2009 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.

Vittorio Gassman studied theatre in his youth and was quite a good basketball player. He debuted on stage in 1943 and soon felt home in all classical theatre works. Since 1946 he also worked at the movies and his first big role there was the criminal in Bitter Rice (1949). This fixed him to his main parts: The ambiguous gentleman inflicting pain and pleasure at the same time. He also participated in the Italian comedies and in American movies but the latter with only minor success. As a homage to his passion for the theatre he directed a cinema version of the play Kean: Genius or Scoundrel (1957).

Born Luigi Montefiori in 1942 near Genoa, Italy, the future actor provided artwork for various advertising agencies in Genoa before moving to Rome in 1966. Though he intended to further his art career, he became involved with a crowd of film people who urged him to put his good looks to advantage in the movies. Parts in Italian westerns soon followed, usually under the pseudonym "George Eastman". (He once reportedly missed out on a role in a Franco Nero western because his height made Franco Nero look too short.) Never quite "typed", the actor soon moved into other film genres playing good guys, bad guys, and good-bad guys. These parts often exploited his athletic physique by having him remove his shirt, perhaps most memorably in Lina Wertmüller's _Belle Starr (1968) where he suffered through a memorable torture scene involving a boot-spur. However, a few parts in English-language films, such as Charlton Heston's _Call of the Wild, The (1972)_ failed to significantly broaden his appeal. He also began to write or collaborate on scripts and in 1989 he directed his first movie: _DNA Formula Letale (1989)_. Details on his private life are sketchy but some sources indicate that he's the father of a daughter.

In her native town, Genova, she attended the Foreign Languages High School. But as early as at the age of 15 she started winning Beauty Contests: first Miss Seaside, then Miss Liguria. In 1986 Sabrina starts her career as a show-girl, in the TV program "Premiatissima" with Johnny Dorelli. Later on she took part in the Channel 5 show "Grand Hotel": it was on that occasion that she met DJ and producer Claudio Cecchetto. The same year Cecchetto produces for her "Sexy Girl", Sabrina's first hit in the Italian and German charts. Between 1987 and 1988 the Artist takes part as a singer in the "Sandra & Raimondo TV Show": during the Summer her first album is released, with the simple title "Sabrina". With "BOYS" (recently remixed for the international markets) Sabrina tops all European, South-American and Australian charts. In Spain she is considered a true sex-symbol for her sunny and mediterranean beauty. In England she is produced by Stock Aitken and Waterman for the single "All of me". In 1990 next to Raffaella Carrà, Sabrina is back on TV in the show "Ricomincio da 2" on RAI 2 Channel. In 1991 Sabrina takes part in Sanremo Festival, in a duet with Jo Squillo with the song "Siamo Donne", later included in the album "Over the Pop" and, after a new successful international tour, she gets back to Channel 5 to compére the show "Bellezze sulla neve" ("Beauties on the snow"). A long period of work in a recording studio bring Sabrina to a radical artistic change. In Summer '94 a new artistic career is started: with a production team headed by Monti-Portaluri and Zafret, is released the mix "Rockaville" , which again gets a good success not only in Italy. The collaboration carries on with the mix "Angel Boy" which sees the participation of famous English rapper Neal A.D. In Summer '95 the single CD "Fatta e rifatta" is released, an ironic song that was much talked about by the press and media. In October '95 her first rock album, completely in Italian language, is released. The title is "Maschio dove sei" ("Male, where are you"), and is produced by Massimo Riva, with the collaboration of Vasco Rossi. Sabrina's sudden change to rock is well accepted, and the album gets released in several European countries.

She never found the international cross-over fame destined for Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida, and most American audiences would not recognize her name, but voluptuous, visually stunning Eleonora Rossi Drago certainly made male hearts pulsate in Europe with her scores of princesses and temptresses throughout Italian cinema of the 1950s and 1960s. She eventually earned respect as a fine actress and elevated her status in the films of Luigi Comencini and Michelangelo Antonioni, among others. But for the most part, she gamely played the sex card in a career that stretched a bit past two decades.

She was born Palmira Omiccioli (some sources also list Palmina as her first name, near Genoa, Italy (Columbus' birthplace) on September 23, 1925, the daughter of a sea captain. She married at the age of 17 and bore a daughter Fiorella but the marriage (to a gentleman named Rossi) did not last. She then found work as a department store mannequin and began actually designing couture clothing herself. An arresting beauty, she started competing in beauty contests and wound up in fourth place in the "Miss Italy" pageant. Gina Lollobrigida came in third. The attention lured her to films.

She moved to Rome and in 1949 began receiving small movie roles while using her married name of Rossi. Her first two big breaks came with Behind Closed Shutters (1951) [Behind Closed Shutters] with Massimo Girotti, a melodrama about prostitution, and the highly controversial Sensualita (1952) [Sensuality] in which Marcello Mastroianni and Amedeo Nazzari violently quarrel over her affections. The earlier picture was directed by Luigi Comencini and considered a strong success. The highly impressed Comencini went on to cast Eleonora as a female lead in his next film La tratta delle bianche (1952) [The White Slave Trade or Girls Marked for Danger], another tawdry melodrama about prostitution that co-starred Vittorio Gassman and also showcased the up-and-coming Sophia Loren.

It was obvious that Rossi-Drago had the makings of a bosomy sex goddess but she constantly strove to better her acting reputation in classier material. In 1955 she won critical notice on stage as Helena in Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" opposite Marcello Mastroianni as Astrov. Her finest hour in films came about that same year with the release of Antonnini's Le amiche (1955) [The Girlfriends], in which she starred in the rags-to-riches story of a humble girl who becomes a respected owner of a fashion salon and the social class struggle therein. Among her other standout roles in the 1950s were Kean: Genius or Scoundrel (1957), again opposite Vittorio Gassman, who also directed, and the award-winning Italian/French co-production Violent Summer (1959), in which she played a married woman approaching middle age who surrenders herself to a younger man (Jean-Louis Trintignant) during the summer of '43 and height of fascism. The film earned her the "Silver Ribbon" award, voted for by Italian film journalists, and the "best actress" award at the Mar del Plata Film Festival in Argentina.

In order to work continuously, however, she was forced to take on provocative roles of lesser quality -- roles that usually emphasized her physical attributes or enhanced the scenery around her. While Sophia Loren had a Carlo Ponti to promote her internationally, Rossi-Drago was less fortunate. By the 1960s she was relegated to such unmemorable adventures, horrors and sword-and-sand spectacles as David and Goliath (1960) [David and Goliath] with Orson Welles playing King Saul; The Carpet of Horror (1962) [The Carpet of Horror]; and Sword of the Conqueror (1961) [Sword of the Conqueror] opposite a raping and pillaging Jack Palance. Elsewhere, she was pretty much overlooked in the epic ensemble as Lot's wife in John Huston's mammoth failure The Bible in the Beginning... (1966).

Things did not improve into the decade and after appearing with Helmut Berger in the critically-panned retelling of Dorian Gray (1970) and Pier Angeli in the pedestrian Sergio Bergonzelli giallo In the Folds of the Flesh (1970) [In the Folds of the Flesh], she decided to call it quits. Blending back inconspicuously into mainstream society, she married Sicilian businessman Domenico La Cavera in 1973, and eventually retired to Palermo, Italy. She died at age 82 of a brain hemorrhage on December 2, 2007, and was survived by her second husband and daughter.

Pietro Germi was born on 14 September 1914 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Railroad Man (1956), Divorce Italian Style (1961) and The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1966). He was married to Olga D'Aiello and Anna Bancio. He died on 5 December 1974 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Very popular actor and writer in Italy. He worked in over 80 movies and TV series. Known especially for portraing the character of "Fantozzi" on several movies. Paolo Villaggio was born on December 30, 1932 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He was known for Fantozzi (1975) (aka Fantozzi), Fantozzi 2 (1976), Fantozzi in Heaven (1993) and the TV Series Carabinieri (2002). He was married to Maura Albites. He died on July 3, 2017 in Rome, Lazio, Italy, just 7 months after completing his last movie W gli Sposi (2019).

Stunning leading actress Delia Boccardo was an eye-catching beauty who graced Italian and international films for over four decades. Born in Genoa, Italy on January 29, 1948, but raised in a small fishing village called Nerv,i she studied at colleges in both Switzerland and London before returning to Italy and enrolling at a film school in Rome.

Briefly appearing on the stage, Delia made her debut at age 18 with a prime role in the "spaghetti western" Death Walks in Laredo (1967) (Death Walks in Laredo). She then co-starred with French actor Philippe Leroy in the action adventure drama L'occhio selvaggio (1967) (The Wild Eye) before making her third film, and first English-speaking appearance, as the leading lady to Alan Arkin in the misguided comedy Inspector Clouseau (1968) with Arkin an unsuccessful Peter Sellers replacement as the klutzy title French detective.

The lovely actress would go on to become a seductive foil and/or love interest in numerous late 60's and 70's films. Additional European-filmed appearances by Boccardo had her co-starring opposite some of Europe's most handsome and virile actors: Franco Nero in the crime dramas Detective Belli (1969); and High Crime (1973); Bekim Fehmiu in the US-produced epic The Adventurers (1970); suave Giancarlo Giannini in Una macchia rosa (1969); Pierre Clémenti in The Year of the Cannibals (1969); actor/director/co-writer Nino Manfredi in the comedy Between Miracles (1971); U.S. import Scott Holden in the Italian western Panhandle 38 (1972); and Luc Merenda in the action thrillers Shoot First, Die Later (1974) and Silent Action (1975). She even found herself a co-star to good-looking famed skier Jean-Claude Killy in Snow Job (1972). She was also among the English-speaking star ensemble of Tentacles (1977), with John Huston, Shelley Winters Henry Fonda and Bo Hopkins.

Continuing into the early 1980s, Delia proved an entrancing Athena in the Italian-made Hercules (1983), starring Lou Ferrigno; portrayed Mary Magdalene in the TV-movie The Day Christ Died (1980); graced the mini-series Martin Eden (1979); was part of the multi-star cast of the WWII historical drama The Assisi Underground (1985) starring James Mason, Irene Papas and Maximilian Schell.

Delia has remained primarily in Italian films since then including Aphrodite (1982) starring Horst Buchholz; Sposi (1988); The Return of Casanova (1992) starring Alain Delon; Dichiarazioni d'amore (1994) (Declarations of Love); Questo è il giardino (1999) and Sole negli occhi (2001). She finished her career on TV as the star of the Italian romantic drama series Incantesimo (1998).

Born Maria Pia Vaccarezza in Genoa, the daughter of a carpenter, Conte spent her youth in Sestri Levante before moving to Genoa to study classical ballet. After a few experiences as a child actress, she was first noted as a fotoromanzi model, then she decided to pursue an acting career and enrolled the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, graduating in 1962. Conte made her acting debut in 1961, in the Marco Bellocchio's short film "La colpa e la pena", then she appeared in a number of films and TV-series, often in secondary roles, being sometimes credited as Mary P. Count. She was also occasionally active as a voice actress and a dubber. She retired in the late 1970s. She was married to actor Giuseppe Rinaldi (1919-2007) and is the mother of actress Francesca Rinaldi.

Enrico Casarosa was born on 20 November 1971 in Genoa, Italy. He is known for Luca (2021), The Good Dinosaur (2015) and Lightyear (2022).

Carmen Russo was born on 3 October 1959 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. She is an actress, known for Io Jane, tu Tarzan (1989), The Porno Killers (1980) and La maestra di sci (1981). She has been married to Enzo Paolo Turchi since 26 June 1987. They have one child.

Rita Calderoni was born on 22 February 1951 in Rossiglione, Genoa, Liguria, Italy. She is an actress, known for Amori morbosi di una contessina (1977).

Cinzia Monreale was born on 22 June 1957 in Genoa, Italy. She is an actress and producer, known for The Beyond (1981), Turbo (2000) and Cave of the Sharks (1978).

Duccio Tessari was born on 11 October 1926 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Puzzle (1974), Una voglia da morire (1965) and My Son, the Hero (1962). He was married to Lorella De Luca and Laura Viola. He died on 6 September 1994 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Strongman who won role of Maciste in Cabiria (1914), and took the character's name as his own stage name in a series of films for the next 14 years. After Pagano's death, the character of Maciste was played by several other actors.

Alberto Lupo was born on 19 December 1924 in Genoa, Italy. He was an actor, known for The Lion of Thebes (1964), The Bacchantes (1961) and Le avventure di Nicola Nickleby (1958). He was married to Lyla Rocco. He died on 13 August 1984 in San Felice Circeo, Italy.

Corrado Invernizzi was born on 25 April 1965 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He is an actor, known for Ford v Ferrari (2019), Marco Polo (2014) and Doctor Who (2005).

Marisa Solinas was born on 30 May 1939 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. She was an actress, known for Killer Goodbye (1968), La città dell'ultima paura (1975) and Boccaccio '70 (1962). She was married to Panone, Italo. She died on 12 February 2019 in Rome, Italy.

Andrea Bruschi was born in Genoa, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Ferrari (2023), Mozart in the Jungle (2014) and Bent (2018).

Born in 1930 in Genoa. Still a young student in 1950 when director Carlo Lizzani gave him a role in the film Achtung Banditi!. Following this experience he traveled to Rome where, after acting in film and theater, he became the assistant director to Lizzani, Gillo Pontecorvo, Sergio Leone, Francesco Rosi. In 1960 he made his debut as a Director with Pigeon Shoot, a film about the Partisan Resistance, on competition at the 1961 Venice Film Festival. In 1964 he directed La Moglie Svedese, an episode of the film Extramarital. His second movie, The Reckless, won the special prize of the jury at the Berlin Film Festival in 1965; it's about a social climber in Italy during the time of the economic miracle. That year he also directed the second unit of Pontecorvo's masterpiece The Battle Of Algiers.

After having filmed for Paramount the heist movie Grand Slam (1967) and the gangster film Machine Gun McCain (1969) in the US, Montaldo returned to Italy to direct The Fifth Day of Peace (1970), Sacco and Vanzetti (in competition at Cannes Film Festival, where it won Best Actor 1971) and Giordano Bruno (1973). These films received great recognition and were widely appreciated at various film festivals around the world. The theme of the Resistance underlined And Agnes Chose to Die (1977).

In 1980 the director engaged in the production of a television series about the exploration of Marco Polo, an international co-production with RAI, BBC and NBC. It was filmed in Italy, the Middle East, Tibet, Mongolia and China. It was shown in 76 nations, and won 4 Emmy Awards. Other awards worldwide for cinematography, production design and costumes were received. Montaldo's experience with China reveals a turning point in his work.

Other films he directed are Closed Circuit (in competition at the Berlinale in 1978 and in permanent exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art), A Dangerous Toy (1979), The Gold Rimmed Glasses (1987), Control (1987), and Time to Kill (1989).

Always worked with an international cast. Some of the actors that worked with him are: Burt Lancaster, Rupert Everett, Nicolas Cage, Philippe Noiret, Janet Leigh, Edward G. Robinson, John Cassavetes, Peter Falk, Rade Serbedzija, Charlotte Rampling, Ingrid Thulin, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, F. Murray Abraham, Leonard Nimoy.

Some of his usual collaborators have been score composer Ennio Morricone and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.

Montaldo is also internationally recognized as a Opera director, directed commercials, documentaries and experimental film technology projects. From 1999 he was president of RAI Cinema, a major film production company, for 5 years in which the movies he produced became box office hits, won awards all over the world and formed a new generation of Italian directors.

In 2001 he was appointed Cavaliere di Gran Croce by the president of Italy, one of the top honors of the Republic.

Max Parodi was born on 22 September 1967 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He is an actor, known for Monamour (2005), Black Angel (2002) and La morte di pietra (2008).

Claudio Gora was born on 27 July 1913 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He was an actor and director, known for Febbre di vivere (1953), The Facts of Murder (1959) and Tormento d'amore (1956). He was married to Marina Berti. He died on 13 March 1998 in Rocca Priora, Lazio, Italy.

He graduated in violin and composition at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan (Italy), Lavagnino deserves a special place in film music for his contribution to documentaries. He gave reportages a new dimension; he did not elaborate folkloristic themes, neither he passively adapts the instruments of a certain musical civilization: he identifies the elements that characterize a country under the "sound profile" and gives a plausible equivalent. For this aim, Lavagnino uses all the possibilities given by modern technology, his goal is to "build" a sound. The main collaborator of a musician is no more the orchestra director, but the sound engineer. This attitude did not prevent Lavagnino from producing great orchestra music. In the classical field, he wrote a Concert for violin and orchestra and a Mass for chorus and orchestra. He began composing for cinema in 1951, for film director Orson Welles' Othello. Since then, he wrote music for hundreds of films, among which: Nero's Weekend (Nero's Mistress (1956)) with Gloria Swanson and Brigitte Bardot, The Naked Maja (1958) with Ava Gardner, Imperial Venus (Imperial Venus (1962)) with Gina Lollobrigida, Falstaff (Chimes at Midnight (1965)) directed by and starring Orson Welles, and many others.

Ignazio Oliva was born on 26 September 1970 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He is an actor and cinematographer, known for Stealing Beauty (1996), Young Satellite Amani Yassets F.C. (2006) and The Triumph of Love (2001).

Carla Signoris was born in Genoa. Actress, writer, dubber, singer for fun, she owes her fame to a long activity in theatre, television and cinema for which she has received prestigious awards. She made her debut at the "Teatro Stabile di Genova" where she worked for several seasons with various directors including Marco Sciaccaluga and Elio Petri. In 1984, she was among the founders of the Teatro dell'Archivolto. The only woman in the Broncoviz group, on RAI she took part in Avanzi, Tunnel, Hollywood Party, La Tv delle Ragazze, which made the history of Italian television. She hosted Colorado Café and was in the cast of La Grande Notte, Crozza Italia, Crozza Alive, hosting also Grande Amore for two seasons on Rai 3. She was among the protagonists of the highly-successful series Tutti pazzi per amore, and recently Studio Battaglia - Affari di Famiglia always on Rai Uno s well as Monterossi on Prime Video. She has worked with some of the leading directors on the Italian film scene from Elio Petri to Gabriele Salvatores, from Carlo Mazzacurati to Ferzan Ozpetek, as well as Silvio Soldini, Leone Pompucci, Fausto Brizzi, Riccardo Milani, and Susanna Nicchiarelli. She was the Italian voice of the fish Dory in Disney's blockbuster animated movies Finding Nemo and Finding Dory and later dubbed Miss Krum in Netfix's animated film Klaus. She starred in the My Sky campaign for Sky Italia. Since 2015, she has been a testimonial for AIRC, the Italian Association for Cancer Research. She has written three books published by Rizzoli: Ho sposato un deficiente, Meglio vedove che male accompagnate and E Penelope si arrabbiò. During her career she has been nominated for a David di Donatello, won two Nastri d'Argento, the XXXIV Premio Satira Politica Forte dei Marmi, the Flaiano Prize and in 2022 the Manfredi Prize promoted, like the Nastri d'Argento, by the Italian Film Journalists Association, which was presented to her on the stage of the Teatro Antico during the 65th Taormina Film Festival.