Known For
Acting
Born
Jan 04, 1938
Place of Birth
Rimini, Italy
Credits
49 titles
Scilla Gabel
Biography
She was born Scilla Gabellini, one of five siblings, in Rimini on the Adriatic coast. Scilla initially studied law at Oxford University, graduating with a doctorate. Her interest in pursuing a legal career waned quickly, however, since her next move was a return to Italy for acting classes at Rome's Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica. At the age of seventeen, the voluptuous, blue-eyed Scilla became a body double for Sophia Loren (to whom she bore more than a passing resemblance), notably in the classic Boy on a Dolphin (1957). Two years later, she underwent cosmetic surgery to look less like Sophia in order to forge her own screen image. In 1963, Scilla featured on the cover of several magazines, including Playboy, the Milanese publication Le Ore and Parade (at the time, the most widely read weekly in the U.S.). Though she went on to command leads in a number of films during the 60s, Scilla tended to be typecast in roles which emphasized her physical attributes, rather than her acting ability. She appeared most often in genre films, anything from innocuous sex comedies (Genitori in blue-jeans (1960), Bel Ami 2000 oder Wie verführt man einen Playboy? (1966)) to swashbuckling costume dramas (La Venere dei pirati (1960)), and from spaghetti westerns (Johnny Golden Poker (1966)) to peplum spectacles (Death on the Arena (1962), The Revenge of Spartacus (1964)). After 1971, she was afforded more challenging and critically acclaimed roles as a star in Italian TV miniseries. Eleven years after leaving the screen, Scilla attracted media attention as a result of the murder of her 87-year old landlord father Giuseppe, by a crazed tenant at his villa on the via Campi di Torre Flavia in Ladispoli.
Known For
Filmography
That Awful Mess on Via Merulana
Liliana Balducci
Dov'è Anna?
Paola Silvestri
Vino e pane
Annina
Bastard, Go and Kill
Susanna
The Odyssey
Elen
Johnny Belinda
Belinda
The Odyssey
Elena
Tender Sharks
Zeezee
How to Seduce a Playboy?
Anita Bionda
Target for Killing
La Tigra
Djurado
Barbara Donovan
Modesty Blaise
Melina
Le donne del Tenente Sheridan
Cheril
Con rispetto parlando
Vittoria Oriani, in arte Patricia D'Altamura
Son of Cleopatra
Livia
The Revenge of the Gladiators
Cinzia
Seven Slaves Against the World
Claudia
Corpse for the Lady
Renata
Una storia di notte
Turista tedesca
Outlaws of Love
Wilma
Arms of the Avenger
Isabella - duchessina di Collinalto
Il terrore dei mantelli rossi
Cristina
The Shortest Day
L'amante di un soldato (uncredited)
Two Colonels
Iride
La salamandre d'or
Béatrice
Sodom and Gomorrah
Tamar
Colossus of the Arena
Thalima
Village of Daughters
Angelina Vimereati
No Man's Land
Signora De Rossi
Romulus and the Sabines
Dusia
Three Faces of Sin
Rossana
Mara
Mara
The Festival Girls
Nadja
The Fruit Is Ripe
Kissa
La grande vallata
Mill of the Stone Women
Elfie Wahl
The Queen of the Pirates
Isabella, the Duke's Daughter
I piaceri del sabato notte
Patrizia
Noi duri
Josette
Genitori in blue-jeans
Colette
Take Me As I Am
Gina
The White Warrior
Princess Mario Vorontsova
Tarzan's Greatest Adventure
Toni
I ragazzi dei Parioli
Nuccia
Legs of Gold
Gianna Savelli
Girls of the Night
Lola
Gente felice
Gina
Due sosia in allegria
Tua per la vita
La sartina dell' Atelier