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Olga Villi
Olga Villi
Born	Olga Villani; 20 January 1922; Suzzara, Mantua, Italy
Died	12 August 1989 (aged 67); Rapallo, Italy
Occupation	actress

Olga Villi (20 January 1922 – 12 August 1989), was an Italian model and actress.

Life and career

Born in Suzzara, Mantua as Olga Villani, Villi began to work, only twelve years old, as a saleswoman and seamstress at the Milanese fashion house Biki.^[1]

A few years later her employer hired her as a model; noted by Macario, she was hired by him in 1942 for the rivista-operetta Il grillo al castello, where she had to act, sing and dance.^[1] Thanks to the success of the show Villi became one of the most quoted soubrettes of the period, working with Anna Magnani, Nino Taranto and Alberto Sordi, and in mid-1940s she also starred in several drama plays, working among others with Luchino Visconti, Alessandro Blasetti and Giorgio Strehler.^[1]^[2]

Also active in films and on television, in 1967 Villi won a Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actress thanks to her performance in Pietro Germi's The Birds, the Bees and the Italians.^[3] After having announced her retirement in 1972, she came back on stage in 1984.^[2]

She was married to the nobleman Raimondo Lanza di Trabia until his suicide in 1954.^[1]^[4] Villi died after a long illness in Rapallo, where she lived for about thirty years.^[2]

Selected filmography

Macario Against Zagomar (1944)
Christmas at Camp 119 (1948)
Letter at Dawn (1948)
Yvonne of the Night (1949)
Four Red Roses (1952)
Half a Century of Song (1952)
Adriana Lecouvreur (1955)
Sex Quartet (1966)
The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1966)
Il fischio al naso (1967)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Enrico Lancia, Roberto Poppi (2003). Dizionario del cinema italiano - Le Attrici. Gremese Editore, 2003. pp. 36–37. ISBN 888440214X.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Due protagonisti dello spettacolo". La Repubblica. 15 August 1989. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
^ Enrico Lancia (1998). I premi del cinema. Gremese Editore, 1998. pp. 233, 249. ISBN 88-7742-221-1.
^ Tano Gullo (3 January 2007). "Lanza il principe irrequieto". La Repubblica. Retrieved 6 December 2013.