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Ornella Muti
Ornella Muti
	Muti in 2003
Born	Francesca Romana Rivelli; 9 March 1955 (age 69); Rome, Italy
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1970–present
Spouses	; Alessio Orano (m. 1975; div. 1981) ; Federico Fachinetti (m. 1988; div. 1996)
Children	3; including Naike Rivelli

Francesca Romana Rivelli (born 9 March 1955), professionally known as Ornella Muti, is an Italian actress.

Among the most known Italian actresses,^[1]^[2]^[3] in her career she has worked across various genres, working alongside Italian directors such as Damiano Damiani, Mario Monicelli, Dino Risi, Marco Ferreri, Carlo Verdone, Ettore Scola, Francesca Archibugi, Paolo Virzì, Umberto Lenzi, Francesco Nuti and many others. Outside of Italy, she is best known for her role as Princess Aura in the science fiction cult film Flash Gordon (1980).

Career

Muti was born in Rome to a Neapolitan journalist father and Ilse Renate Krause, a Russian Baltic German sculptor from Estonia. Her maternal grandparents emigrated from Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg, Russia) to Estonia.^[4]

Muti modeled as a teenager and made her film debut in the 1970 film La moglie più bella (The Most Beautiful Wife) at the age of fourteen.^[5] In the early seventies, thanks to the great success of the film, she starred in numerous comedies, mainly ascribed to the erotic genre. In 1974, she played in the Mario Monicelli Come Home and Meet My Wife, which became a huge success and brought her wide popularity. During the 1970s and 1980s she worked with the most popular Italian actors as Ugo Tognazzi, Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, Carlo Verdone, Renato Pozzetto, Paolo Villaggio, Francesco Nuti, Giancarlo Giannini in successful comedies as Nobody's Perfect, Bonnie and Clyde Italian Style, Rich and Poor, All the Fault of Paradise, Me and My Sister, Tonight at Alice's, and also dramatic movies as The Last Woman, The Bishop's Bedroom, Nest of Vipers, Break Up, Tales of Ordinary Madness and The Future Is Woman.

With Adriano Celentano she made two of the most successful comedies in the history of Italian cinema: The Taming of the Scoundrel and Madly in Love.

In recent years she has alternated between working in independent and mainstream films, TV drama and TV hosting as at the Sanremo Music Festival in 2022.

She is one of the few Italian actresses to achieve an international career across Europe where she has worked with Pedro Masó, Francisco Lara Polop, Mario Camus, Vicente Aranda, Lucas Belvaux, Georges Lautner, Volker Schlöndorff, Mike Hodges, Anthony Hickox, Mike Figgis, Peter Greenaway, and Grigory Chukhray. Her best known movies in Europe are Swann in Love in which she acted with Jeremy Irons and Alain Delon, The Bilingual Lover where she starred with Javier Bardem, Hotel, with Salma Hayek, David Schwimmer, Lucy Liu, Burt Reynolds, and John Malkovich, and The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1: The Moab Story, a multimedia project by Peter Greenaway.

In the United States she has worked with directors such as Woody Allen, John Landis, Eugene Levy, Buddy Giovinazzo and James Toback. She appeared also in Love and Money, Oscar, Once upon a Crime, Somewhere in the City and To Rome with Love and in the American TV movies Casanova, Wait Until Spring, Bandini, A Season of Giants and one episode of The Hitchhiker TV series.

In 1981, she turned down the lead role (later given to Carole Bouquet) in For Your Eyes Only because her costume designer, Wayne Finkelman, was not hired by the production.^[6]

Personal life

In 1999, she insured her breasts for $350,000.^[7]

In 2008, Muti introduced her own line of jewellery and subsequently opened several shops around the world.^[8]

In 2015, the Italian court of Pordenone sentenced her to eight months in prison for having cancelled a theatrical performance following a health problem, which did not prevent her from participating in a social dinner with Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg in December 2010. She avoided prison by paying the sum of 30,000 euros to the Verdi theater as compensation.^[9]

Muti has been married twice, first to Alessio Orano (a fellow actor in The Most Beautiful Wife), from 1975 to 1981.^[5] She was married, secondly, to Federico Fachinetti, from 1988 to 1996.^[5] Muti has three children: Naike Rivelli (born 1974), a fashion model, singer, and actress; a son, Andrea, and a second daughter, Carolina, both from her marriage to Fachinetti.^[5]

In 1994, she became a resident of Monaco.^[8]

On February 1, 2022, the actress announced that she would like to obtain Russian citizenship. She told TASS: "It would be nice for me to get citizenship, because it is part of my culture associated with my mother. She died this year, and it would be a gift for her."^[10]

In July 2022, Muti was criticised by the far right for supporting the legalisation of cannabis in Italy.^[11]

Filmography

Films

Film roles showing year released, title, role played, director and notes.^[5]
Title	Year	Role	Director	Notes
The Most Beautiful Wife	1970	Francesca Cimarosa	Damiano Damiani
Il sole nella pelle/ Summer Affair	1971	Lisa	Giorgio Stegani
Oasis of Fear	1971	Ingrid Sjoman	Umberto Lenzi
The House of the Doves	1972	Sandra Ruvo	Claudio Guerín
Experiencia prematrimonial		Alejandra Espinosa	Pedro Masó
Fiorina la vacca		Teresa	Vittorio De Sisti
The Nun and the Devil	1973	Sister Isabella	Domenico Paolella
Italian Graffiti		Santuzza Morano	Alfio Caltabiano
The Sensual Man		Giovanna	Marco Vicario
Una chica y un señor/ L'amante adolescente	1974	Caridad	Pedro Masó
Cebo para una adolescente/ La segretaria/ Bait for an Adolescent		Maribel	Francisco Lara Polop
Appassionata		Eugenia Rutelli	Gianluigi Calderone
Come Home and Meet My Wife		Vincenzina Rotunno	Mario Monicelli
La Joven casada	1975	Camino	Mario Camus
Pure as a Lily	1976	Lucia Mantuso	Franco Rossi
The Last Woman	1976	Valeria	Marco Ferreri
The Bishop's Bedroom	1977	Matilde Scrosati	Dino Risi
Death of a Corrupt Man		Valérie	Georges Lautner
Viva l'Italia!		Hitchhiking young woman and Stewardess	Mario Monicelli, Dino Risi, Ettore Scola	Also known as I Nuovi Mostri, segments: "Autostop" and "Senza parole"
Nest of Vipers	1978	Elena Mazzarini	Tonino Cervi
First Love		Renata Mazzetti	Dino Risi
Break Up		Ursenna "Sena"	Enrico Maria Salerno
Neapolitan Mystery	1979	Lucia Navarro	Sergio Corbucci
Life Is Beautiful	1979	Maria	Grigory Chukhray
The Taming of the Scoundrel	1980	Lisa Silvestri	Castellano & Pipolo
Flash Gordon	1980	Princess Aura	Mike Hodges
Tales of Ordinary Madness	1981	Cass	Marco Ferreri
Nobody's Perfect		Chantal	Pasquale Festa Campanile
Madly in Love		Cristina	Castellano & Pipolo
The Girl from Trieste	1982	Nicole	Pasquale Festa Campanile
Love and Money	1982	Catherine	James Toback
Bonnie and Clyde Italian Style	1983	Rosetta Foschini	Steno
Rich and Poor		Marta Nannuzzi	Pasquale Festa Campanile
Swann in Love		Odette	Volker Schlöndorff
The Future Is Woman	1984	Malvinia	Marco Ferreri
All the Fault of Paradise	1985	Celeste	Francesco Nuti
Department Stores	1986	Luisa	Castellano & Pipolo
Bewitched	1986	Anna	Francesco Nuti
Chronicle of a Death Foretold	1987	Angela Vicario	Francesco Rosi
Me and My Sister	1987	Silvia	Carlo Verdone
Private Access	1988	Anna	Francesco Maselli
The Sparrow's Fluttering		Silvana	Gianfranco Mingozzi
The King of Naples		Maria Sophie of Bavaria	Luigi Magni
Wait Until Spring, Bandini	1989	Maria Bandini	Dominique Deruddere
Captain Fracassa's Journey	1990	Serafine	Ettore Scola
Tonight at Alice's	1990	Alice	Carlo Verdone
Oscar	1991	Sofia Provolone	John Landis
Especially on Sunday		Anna	Giuseppe Tornatore, Marco Tullio Giordana, Giuseppe Bertolucci, Francesco Barilli	Segment: "La domenica specialmente"
Count Max		Isabella Matignon	Christian De Sica
Vacanze di Natale '91		Giuliana	Enrico Oldoini
Once Upon a Crime	1992	Elena	Eugene Levy
Non chiamatemi Omar	1992	Viola	Sergio Staino
The Bilingual Lover	1993	Norma Valenti	Vicente Aranda
Tatiana, la muñeca rusa	1995	Tatiana	Santiago San Miguel
Stella's Favor	1996	Stella	Giancarlo Scarchilli
Somewhere in the City	1998	Marta	Ramin Niami
Dirty Linen	1999	Bruna	Mario Monicelli
The Unscarred	2000	Raffaella	Buddy Giovinazzo
Tomorrow	2001	Stefania Zarenghi	Francesca Archibugi
Una lunga lunga lunga notte d'amore		Egle	Luciano Emmer
Last Run		Danny	Anthony Hickox
Hotel		Flamenco spokesperson	Mike Figgis	Cameo appearance
Aprés la vie	2002	Cécile Rivet	Lucas Belvaux
Cavale		Cécile Costes	Lucas Belvaux
Une couple épatant		Cécile Costes	Lucas Belvaux
Uomini & donne, amori & bugie	2003	Anna	Eleonora Giorgi
The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1: The Moab Story	2003	Mathilde Figura	Peter Greenaway
People	2004	Aphrodita	Fabien Onteniente
The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things		Grandma	Asia Argento
Dimmi di sì		Francesca	Juan Calvo
La bambina dalle mani sporche	2005	Wanda Rosso	Renzo Martinelli
Civico zero	2007	Nina	Francesco Maselli
Ripopolare la reggia	2007	Marchesa	Peter Greenaway
Io non ci casco	2008	Miss Lamberti	Pasquale Falcone
To Rome with Love	2012	Pia Fusari	Woody Allen
Checkmate	2016	Penury	Jason Bradbury	Short film
Magical Nights	2018	Federica	Paolo Virzì
Wine to Love - I colori dell'amore		Anna	Domenico Fortunato
Mare di grano		Ornella	Fabrizio Guarducci
The Christmas Show	2022	Rita	Alberto Ferrari

Television

Television roles showing year released, title, role played, network, and notes^[5]
Title	Year	Role	Original network	Notes
The Hitchhiker	1986	Sister Theresa	HBO	Episode: "True Believer"
Casanova	1987	Henriette	ABC	Television film
A Season of Giants	1989	Onoria	Rai 1	Television film
Il Grande Fausto	1994	Giulia Occhini	Rai 1	Miniseries
L'avvocato Porta	1997	Chiara	Canale 5	Main role (season 1); 4 episodes
The Count of Monte Cristo	1998	Mercedes Iguanada	TF1	Miniseries
Esther	1999	Vashti	Rai 1	Television film
Lo zio d'America	2002	Maria Monticelli	Rai 1	Main role (season 1); 8 episodes
Chi l'avrebbe mai detto	2006	Emma	Rai 1	Miniseries
Il sangue e la rosa	2008	Barbara Forleis	Canale 5	Main role
Doc West	2009	Debra Downing	Canale 5	Television film
Sirene	2017	Ingrid	Rai 1	Main role; 6 episodes