Shoes

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Gender

Female

Birthday

1938-01-04

Place of Birth

Rimini, Italy

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

The Odyssey

The Odyssey

Odysseus' journey, told in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. After fighting in the Trojan War, Odysseus spends years trying to return home to Itaka.

Le donne del Tenente Sheridan

Le donne del Tenente Sheridan

Mara

Mara

Tender Sharks

Tender Sharks

While an admiral's son is hunted by secret agents, his sister plays his part on a warship.

Bastard, Go and Kill

Bastard, Go and Kill

Chaco, a Mexican on the run from just about everyone, is framed for the killing of a couple of Mexican cattlemen. Everyone knows he's innocent but the evidence is substantial. Chaco escapes and with the help of a bounty hunter, goes after the real murderers.

Dov'è Anna?

Dov'è Anna?

The search for Anna, who suddenly disappeared from a quiet family home.

Vino e pane

Vino e pane

In 1935, Pietro Spina, a communist intellectual forced to emigrate for political reasons, secretly returns to Italy, driven by nostalgia for his homeland. Under the identity of Don Paolo Spada, a priest recovering from illness, he moves to Pietrasecca, a small village in the mountains of Abruzzo.

Outlaws of Love

Outlaws of Love

This film is very much a docudrama which portrays the difficulties of Italian life circa 1963 due to the absence of a divorce law. Five scenarios with different actors portray realistic situations where divorce is clearly warranted but, because marriage was strictly in the purview of the Catholic Church at that time, which strictly forbade divorce, these people are shown to suffer the consequences in their daily lives. Italy got its first civilian divorce law in 1970.

I ragazzi dei Parioli

I ragazzi dei Parioli

A tale on the Italian upper class of the '60s and their ways to kill time.

Sodom and Gomorrah

Sodom and Gomorrah

Lot leads his people to a fertile valley adjacent to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, hotbeds of vice and corruption ruled by the merciless Queen Bera. When Lot orders a dam to be busted in order to prevent the destruction of the cities by the attacking Helamites, the queen, in gratitude, allows Lot's people to settle in Sodom. Soon, however, the veneer of civilization begins crumbling as Lot and the Hebrews become corrupted by the Sodomites.

That Awful Mess on Via Merulana

That Awful Mess on Via Merulana

Italian miniseries about a homicide that occurred in Rome during the 1920s.

Mill of the Stone Women

Mill of the Stone Women

Hans von Arnam travels to a Flemish village to study a strange carousel located in an old windmill that displays famous murderesses and other notorious women from history. Professor Gregorius Wahl, owner of the windmill, warns Hans to stay away from his mysterious daughter Elfi, in order to keep Hans from discovering the horrible secret shared by the Professor and Elfi's Doctor.

Le avventure di Ulisse

Le avventure di Ulisse

La salamandre d'or

La salamandre d'or

In 1525, on the evening of the Battle of Pavia, François 1er was taken prisoner by the armies of Charles-Quint, with the Constable de Bourbon on their side. His mother, regent of the kingdom, commissioned the king's loyal equerry, Antoine de Montpezat, to raise a ransom of two million ecus and send it to Madrid. Despite the treachery of Vandoeuvre, governor of Languedoc and supporter of the connétable de Bourbon, who has his eye on the French throne, Montpezat accomplishes his mission and is reunited with his fiancée, who had almost married the traitor Vandoeuvre.

Village of Daughters

Village of Daughters

A salesman from England is picked to select one girl in an Italian town who will become a bride for a native son.