Elsa Martinelli

Elsa Martinelli
Born	Elsa Tia
Years active	1953 - present
Spouse(s)	Count Franco Mancinelli di San Vito (1957-?) Willy Rizzo
Children	Cristiana Mancinelli (b. 1956)

Elsa Martinelli, born Elsa Tia, on 3 August 1932 or 13 January 1935, according to different sources, in Grosseto, Tuscany, is an Italian actress and former fashion model.

Martinelli moved to Rome with her family and in 1953 was discovered by Roberto Capucci who introduced her to the world of fashion. She became a model and began playing small roles in films. She appeared in Claude Autant-Lara's Le Rouge et le noir (1954), but her first important film role came the following year with The Indian Fighter opposite Kirk Douglas. Douglas claims to have spotted her on a magazine cover and hired her for his production company, Bryna Productions. In 1956 she won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 6th Berlin International Film Festival for playing the title role in Mario Monicelli's Donatella.

Since then, she has divided her time between Europe and the USA and has appeared in such fims as Four Girls in Town (1957) with George Nader, Manuela (1957) with Trevor Howard, Prisoner of the Volga (1959) with John Derek, Hatari! (1962) with John Wayne, The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962) with Charlton Heston, The Trial with Anthony Perkins, The V.I.P.s (1963) with Orson Welles, Rampage (1963) with Robert Mitchum, and Woman Times Seven (1967) with Lex Barker. In Candy (1968), her co-stars were Charles Aznavour, Marlon Brando, Richard Burton, James Coburn, Walter Matthau and Ringo Starr.

Martinelli was first married to Count Franco Mancinelli Scotti di San Vito, by whom she has a daughter, Cristiana Mancinelli (born 1956), also an actress. She later was married to the Paris Match photographer and 1970s furniture designer Willy Rizzo.

Selected filmography

• Maroc 7 (1967)