Italian actress Virna Lisi, who starred opposite Hollywood stars including Jack Lemmon and Frank Sinatra in the mid-1960s and later established herself as an acclaimed character actress, died of cancer last month aged 78.
Italian media quoted her son as saying that Lisi – widely admired early in her career for her stunning good looks, striking green eyes and blonde hair – passed away peacefully in her sleep in Rome, on December 18, a month after being diagnosed with an incurable illness.
Born in Ancona on November 8, 1936, she was an established cinema and theatre actress before Hollywood producers – keen to find a striking replacement for the late American actress Marilyn Monroe – came calling in 1964.
She made her Hollywood debut opposite Lemmon and British comic actor Terry-Thomas in the satire How to Murder Your Wife in 1965.
Lisi made an instant impression, too – popping out of a wedding cake dressed only in a bikini – in her first scene.