Niké Arrighi

Princess Niké Arrighi Borghese (born Marcella Arrighi; 9 March 1944 – 12 February 2025), known professionally as Niké Arrighi, was a French visual artist and actress, known for roles in several European horror and art house films in the 1960s and 1970s in addition to work in television.

Early life Daughter of Italian diplomat and former journalist Count Ernesto Arrighi and Australian prima ballerina and model Eleanora ("Nellie") Douglas Cox, daughter of grazier Douglas Cox, Arrighi was raised in the Vaucluse neighborhood of Sydney, Australia. Her family moved there because her father was the Italian consul. He died when she was young.

Career Arrighi began her professional career as a fashion model in Paris, then moved to London, where she studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1967 she played the parts of Corinne in The Champions ('Reply Box No.66') and a gypsy girl in The Prisoner ('Many Happy Returns'). After a ten-year career in film and television she retired in the early 1970s to return to art, which she had studied as a young woman. Specializing in copperplate etching and oil painting, she won First Prize for Graphic Art at the 1976 Hong Kong Art Biennial.

Personal life and death In 1977 she married Prince Paolo Borghese, eldest son of the ill-famed Junio Valerio Borghese. They lived in Hong Kong, where he was an engineer, before moving in 1984 to Italy, where she still resided at Palazzo Borghese in Artena until her death. They had a daughter, Flavia.

Arrighi died on 12 February 2025 in Rome, at the age of 80. Her sister is Luciana Arrighi.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1967 The Prisoner Gypsy Girl episode: “Many Happy Returns”1967 The Gentle Libertine Aimee / Mitsou 1968 Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River Portuguese Waitress 1968 The Devil Rides Out Tanith Carlisle (AKA The Devil's Bride)1969 Women in Love Contessa 1971 Countess Dracula Gypsy Girl 1971 Bubù 1971 Sunday Bloody Sunday Party Guest #5 1971 A Season in Hell 1972 Trois milliards sans ascenseur Minouche 1973 Day for Night Odile, la maquilleuse 1973 The Last Train Monique Maroyeur 1974 The Perfume of the Lady in Black Orchidea 1974 Stavisky Edith Boréal (final film role)