Lorella De Luca Biography

Fast Facts

• Worked closely with her husband, director Duccio Tessari, until his death, appearing in a number of his films and sometimes working as an assistant director
• A brain tumor cost her her sight, and eventually contributed to her death at the age of 73
• Made her film debut in Federico Fellini's "Il Bidone" in 1955, acting opposite the Oscar-winning Broderick Crawford
• A director followed her home and convinced her father that she should be in films when she was 14
• Her breakthrough role was in the Dino Risi classic comedy "Poveri ma belli" or "Poor, but Handsome․"
• Appeared in several Spaghetti Westerns directed by her future husband Duccio Tessari
• During the mid-1950s, she was one of the most recognizable ingénues of Italian cinema
• In the 1990s, she retired from her career as an actress
• Voiced a campaign advisor in the 2009 video game "Empire: Total War․"
• A pictorial of her appeared in a 1963 issue of "Exquis․"