Italian actress Agostina Belli, known in France for iconic roles in the 1970s in cult films such as 'Parfum de femme' and 'La Carrière d'une chambre femme' celebrates her 75th birthday on April 13.

Born April 13, 1947 in Milan, Agostina Belli comes from a modest family , which gives it a character imbued resourcefulness and independence . While she works as door-to-door encyclopedia seller , she learns somewhat by chance that the great director Carlo Lizzani is looking for extras for a film to be shot in Milan. This last do not remain insensitive to its beauty and gives him a very small role in Gangsters in Milan . We are in 1968 and Agostina Belli's career has just taken off.

Agostina Belli in 'Perfume de femme' by Dino Risi (1974) poke @Melclalex pic.twitter.com/JFbB6SqH

— Zgur_ (@Zgur_) November 26, 2012

Agostina Belli: First successes in horror and erotic films

While her career seems to be taking off, Agostina Belli is victim of a serious car accident which keeps her away from the sets for many months. Upon her return, she landed roles in horror films, genre that abounded in the 1970s with the Yellow . His presence, in 1972, in the distribution of the film Blue Beard d'Edward Dmytryk gives it international visibility . She interprets there, with a mixture of candor and sensuality which will often be used by the directors, one of the eight victims of the terrible baron embodied by Richard Burton .

Often appearing naked on screen, Agostina Belli quickly becomes one of the sexy icons of Italian cinema with movies like When love is sensuality or Manhood . The year 1972 was also marked by the beginning of her collaboration with the filmmaker Pasquale Festa Campanile who directed her in the Calandria , a typical Italian erotic comedy production.

Agostina Belli: Her mother savagely killed

If life has often smiled on him on the big screen, it was not the same in his private and personal sphere a series of tragedies and misfortunes have marked its often chaotic and tortuous journey. Among the many unpleasant episodes of his life, there is one that definitely beats them all: the murder of his own mother , violently stabbed just over fifty years old by an anonymous murderer. a crime which shocked both the beautiful Agostina and her father, even though the two had been separated for many years. This woman ran a boarding house in the center of Milan and his killer was never found : nobody saw or heard anything and the case remained unsolved.

#AgostinaBelli straight out of an array of #Botticelli <3 pic.twitter.com/LfZHrQpzjH

— Frederique (@Passionissime) June 18, 2015

Consecration of Agostina Belli with dramatic roles

In 1974, Agostina Belli between in the firmament of Italian cinema with the movie Women's perfume of Dino Risi where she replies to this sacred monster of comedy, Vittorio Gassman . The film reached the top of the box office and was a resounding success in France as well. In April 1976, Women's Perfume is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and shortly after, Agostina receives the David di Donatello award for best actress in another blockbuster film which is finishing its consecration, The Career of a Maid , still directed by Dino Risi.

Towards the end of the 1970s, Agostina Belli's fame went beyond borders and her notoriety in the abroad is reinforced by the association of its name with that of international actors prestigious such as Philippe Noiret, Yves Montand, Peter Ustinov, Charlotte Rampling, Fred Astaire, Marcello Mastroianni and Kirk Douglas , the famous American actor with whom, according to the rather dubious rumors of the magazines of the time, Agostina had a relationship .

Peter Ustinov, Agostina Belli, Fred Astaire, Charlotte Rampling and Philippe Noiret on the set of UN TAXI MAUVE by Yves Boisset (1977) pic.twitter.com/tlG0QYLQdh

— The Movie Freak (@BlogMovieFreak) June 19, 2020

Agostina Belli: her critical and uncompromising view of her playing partners

Agostina Belli, by her character, does not have her tongue in her pocket. And when it came to criticize the faults of its partners game, she did not need to be asked. Despite the great actor's good-natured and mischievous image, Belli told the Figaro : ' I have very bad memories of Vittorio Gassman, it was too aggressive, even nasty'. Same fate, more or less, for Philippe Noiret , the famous French actor: ' It was pretentious and full of himself. He was on one side and the whole team was on the other .' But the rants don't stop there: Belli wants some too to director Lina Wertmuller : ' It was a real dictator. On set, she was yelling at me, 'Hey, bitch, are you gonna move or not? '. An outspoken nature!

Source journaldesfemmes.fr