WTI Magazine #50    2014 December, 26
Author : Giuseppina Salzano e Giovanni Verde      Translation by:

Virna Lisi was one of the queens of Italian cinema, maverick figure of great talent, who never bent to the hypocrisies of the show biz and never shied away the challenges of time passing by. Virna Pieralisi was born in Ancona on November 8, 1936. Discovery of the young singer and actor Giacomo Rondinella, he is the one who introduces her to producer Antonio Ferrigno.

At the age of fourteen she enters into the world of cinema, adopting the pseudonym Virna Lisi that made her famous. After starring roles in romantic movies, very popular in the fifties in Italy, she points toward comedy with "Le diciottenni", directed by Mario Mattioli, or "Lo scapolo" with Alberto Sordi, both in 1955.

In 1957 she will play Elisabeth Bennet in the historic RAI television drama "Orgoglio e pregiudizio" (Pride and Prejudice), tract from the famous Jane Austen novel. Thanks to the success of the drama series, Virna Lisi is back on the scene in the sixties, after her marriage with the architect Franco Pesci. She is featured in several Italian comedies, including "Sua eccellenza si fermò a mangiare", also directed by Mario Mattioli, with the great Totò.

France starts to appreciate her talent, and so she stars in "Eva", with Joseph Losey, working with Jean Moreau; or "Il tulipano nero" (The Black Tulip) together with Alain Delon. In these years Virna Lisi rejects the role of bond-girl in the movie "007, From Russia with Love", starring Sean Connery: a role then given to Daniela Bianchi. Virna will always regret not having accepted the part.

The second part of the sixties is the American part of her career. The actress is called to Hollywood, where the major American film companies see in her a possible heir to Marilyn Monroe. Her first American film was "How to Murder Your Wife",in 1965, with Jack Lemmon and Terry Thomas, directed by Richard Quine. It looks like the beginning of a great American career, but she doesn't feel that the rules imposed by the star system fit very well to her. Virna Lisi feels like she is treated like a sexy doll more than like an actress, not valued in her talent.

After working with Frank Sinatra, George Scott and Tony Curtis, Virna Lisi decides to terminate the contract that bounds her to Paramount, after just three years of cinema. Back in Europe, the actress works in international productions with, among others, Anthony Quinn, Anna Magnani, Richard Burton, Franco Nero.

During the eighties, Virna Lisi comes back to Hollywood for a few other productions, and begins to approach the Italian television world, which see her as a main star in the nineties. She is protagonist of several television series: one of the most successful is "I ragazzi della via Pàl", in 2003. In these years she also stars in two films by Cristina Comencini, "Và dove ti porta il cuore" in 1996, and "Il più bel giorno della mia vita" in 2002.

Over the years, her work will bring her a feminine interpretation prize at Cannes, six Silver Ribbons, two David di Donatello for two movies plus two other ones to her career. On September 23, 2013, the actress loses her husband. The two had been married for 53 years.

Virna Lisi dies at the age of 78, on December 18, 2014, due to an incurable disease. Her figure remains the one of a great actress, beloved for her talent, but even more beloved for her vision of life, her philosophy about accepting time that passes by, and for her dignity as a woman. To those who asked her about the signs of aging on her face, and her relationship with her astonishing beauty, Virna Lisi was fond of saying: "I've reached the age of wrinkles? So be it. They represent every one's past, and they are part of everybody's life".