Marisa Mell

Marisa Mell (born Marlies Theres Moitzi; 24 February 1939 – 16 May 1992) was an Austrian actress. Typecast as a femme fatale in European arthouse and genre films, she is best regarded for her performances as Eva Kant in Mario Bava's critically re-assessed Danger: Diabolik, and the dual role of Susan Dumurrier/Monica Weston in Lucio Fulci's giallo One on Top of the Other (1969).

After garnering popularity by appearing in such films as Venusberg (1963), French Dressing (1964), Masquerade (1965), Casanova 70 (1965) and Secret Agent Super Dragon (1966), Mell's attempt to launch a Broadway and Hollywood career ended with the failure of her debut musical Mata Hari. She settled in Italy, where her high-profile love life and long association with Pier Luigi Torri, a playboy who later became one of the world's most-wanted fugitives, made her familiar to readers of tabloid press stories about the European jet set and elite Roman nightclubs. Her other notable films during this period include Anyone Can Play (1967), Marta (1971), Ben and Charlie (1972), Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972), Gang War in Milan (1973), Mahogany (1975), Casanova & Co. (1977) and Mad Dog Killer (1977).

Despite her typically resilient onscreen persona, Mell was privately a vulnerable figure who suffered from bad luck, ill-judged personal choices, and drug use. By the late 1980s, these factors had eroded the qualities that had earned her initial stardom, and she was forced to spend the remainder of her life in Austria, where she subsisted in straitened circumstances.

Career Mell left her home city of Graz to attend the Max Reinhardt drama school where her fellow students briefly included Senta Berger. After four years in stage work, she began to appear in starring roles in European films. For the rest of her life, Mell had difficulty acknowledging the failure, which may have played a part in her moving to Italy where her stories of a successful Broadway run were not challenged. She said she had turned down a lucrative seven-year Hollywood contract because "the contract was a whole book. I think that even to go to the toilet I would have needed a permission." In 1968, Mell had her best-known film role as Eva Kant in Danger: Diabolik (1968), which initially was poorly received but has been championed by later film critics. At this time, Mell was appearing in what were by Italian standards major productions, which got American releases, such as Lucio Fulci's early giallo One on Top of the Other (1969). She suffered the death of a prematurely born daughter in 1969, and never had another child.

Mell's name had been romantically linked with number of European and Hollywood male stars, but in Italy she was often the center of paparazzi stories along with Pier Luigi Torri, her aristocratic, nightclub-owning boyfriend. In 1971, he got into a series of legal difficulties over cocaine being supplied to his nightclub's clients, and fled the country on his yacht. After being arrested in London over a $300 million gold mine and bank scam, and in an ironic echo of Danger: Diabolik, Torri got out of his cell, made a daring and acrobatic rooftop escape, and evaded a huge search by infuriated British police; he eventually was recaptured in America after 18 months at large. As one of the more recognizable beauties in Italian film, Mell continued to work steadily throughout the 1970s, and posed for Italian Playboy.

Mell's marketability depended on her youth and stunning looks, which hardly faded even as she moved into middle age. In Italy, where she had been a genuine celebrity, her box-office appeal had declined by the late 1980s, hardly unusual for a woman of her age in that era. Mell's public profile was very low by her latter years although she obtained some acting work shortly before her 1992 death in Vienna, aged 53, from throat cancer.

Selected filmography

Das Licht der Liebe (1954) - (uncredited) (1959) - Liliane The Good Soldier Schweik (1960) - Olly (uncredited) (1960) - Alka (1960) - Inge (1961) - Erika Meuring The Cry of the Wild Geese (1961) - Judith Gare The Puzzle of the Red Orchid (1962) - Lilian Ranger (1962) - Klara Venusberg (1963) - Florentine Der grüne Kakadu (1963) - Léocadie A Man in His Prime (1964) - Brigitte The Last Ride to Santa Cruz (1964) - Juanita French Dressing (1964) - Françoise Fayol Masquerade (1965) - Sophie Casanova 70 (1965) - Thelma Diamond Walkers (1965) - Irene de Ridder City of Fear (1965) - Ilona Operation Double Cross (1965) - Frieda Secret Agent Super Dragon (1966) - Charity Farrel Objective 500 Million (1966) - Yo Che notte ragazzi! (1966) - Mónica Anyone Can Play (1967) - Paola Danger: Diabolik (1968) - Eva Kant Stuntman (1968) - Gloria Hall One on Top of the Other (1969) - Susan Dumurrier / Monica Weston Les belles au bois dormantes (1970) - Isabelle Senza via d'uscita (1970) - Michèle The Great Swindle (1971) - Carla Marta (1971) - Marta / Pilar Ben and Charlie (1972) - Sarah Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972) - Anna Sartori / Maria Sartori Alta tensión (1972) - Laura Moncada Where the Bullets Fly (1972) - Lulu 'Miss Dynamite' Belle Bella, ricca, lieve difetto fisico, cerca anima gemella (1973) - Paola Gang War in Milan (1973) - Jasmina Sanders Violent Blood Bath (1974) - Patricia Bataille La moglie giovane (1974) - Louisa Parapsycho – Spectrum of Fear (1975) - Greta La encadenada (1975) - Gina / Elisabeth Mahogany (1975) - Carlotta Gavina Taxi Love - Servizio per signora (1976) Born Winner (1976) - Jusy Loves, Beds and Betrayals (1977) - Greta Casanova & Co. (1977) - Duchess of Cornaro Es muss nicht immer Kaviar sein (1977, TV series) - Chantal Mad Dog Killer (1977) - Giuliana Obscene Desire (1978) - Amanda (1979) - Agatha Under Siege (1980) - Kim Lombard La liceale al mare con l'amica di papà (1980) - Violante - wife of Massimo Peccati a Venezia (1980) - Melissa La compagna di viaggio (1980) - Woman with hat-veil Febbre a 40! (1980) - Linda Martin La dottoressa preferisce i marinai (1981) - Mrs. Clara Morelli Corpi nudi (1983) - Marisa Seifenblasen (1984) - Fernsehjournalistin La tempesta (1988) Quest for the Mighty Sword (1990) - Nephele Sensazioni d'amore (1990) - Signora Elena Aloisi I Love Vienna (1991) - Selina (final film role)