Rossana Podestà (born 20 June 1934 in Tripoli - 10 December 2013 in Rome) is a former Italian actress.

Life

She was born in the Italian colony of Libya, where she spent her first years inTripoli and later moved to Rome after World War II. Rossana Podestà still lives inItaly, in Dubino (Sondrio province). She lived with the famous mountain climber, explorer and journalist Walter Bonatti; he died on September 13, 2011.

Acting career

Podestà's most memorable role was as Helen in Helen of Troy, produced byRobert Wise in 1956. She could not speak English so she learned her lines by rote with a voice coach. The movie gave Podestà international exposure, and she performed alongside a young Brigitte Bardot. Thanks to her starring in the Mexican film Rosanna, she became very popular in Latin America.

Podestà also worked in the movie Ulisse, directed by Mario Camerini, and in the sixties and seventies she acted in some romantic movies, including Paolo il caldo and Il prete sposato. Her last performance was in 1985's Segreti segreti, directed byGiuseppe Bertolucci.

She married and then divorced movie producer Marco Vicario.

Filmography

• 1950: Strano appuntamento
• 1951: Domani è un altro giorno
• 1951: The Seven Dwarfs to the Rescue
• 1952: Il moschettiere fantasma
• 1952: Io, Amleto
• 1953: Voice of Silence
• 1954: Le ragazze di San Frediano
• 1955: Ulysses
• 1956: Santiago
• 1956: Helen of Troy
• 1956: La spada e la croce
• 1960:La furia dei barbari
• 1961: La schiava di Roma
• 1962: Solo contro Roma
• 1962: La freccia d'oro
• 1963: Sodom and Gomorrah
• 1962: La vergine di Norimberga
• 1964: Le ore nude
• 1964: The Golden Arrow
• 1965: F.B.I. operazione Baalbeck
• 1965: Sette uomini d'oro
• 1971: Homo Eroticus
• 1971: Il prete sposato
• 1974: The Sensual Man
• 1975: Il gatto mammone
• 1977: Pane, burro e marmellata
• 1980: Sunday Lovers
• 1983: Hercules
• 1985: Segreti, segreti