Gia Scala

Early life

She was born Josephine Grace Johanna Scoglio in Liverpool, Lancashire, to a Sicilian father, Pietro Scoglio, and an Irish mother, Eileen O'Sullivan. She had one sister, Tina Scala, also an actress. Gia was brought up in Messina, and Mili San Marco, Sicily, the latter was upon her grandfather—Natale Scoglio's estate. He was the largest agriculturist of citrus, mainly lemons known as the "Ballerina Brand". It was the custom of upper social and economic class families to send their young adult children to live abroad to enculturate and learn other languages. When she was 16 years old, Gia began to reside with her aunt Agata in Whitestone, Queens, Long Island, New York. She had always wanted to be an actress; however, her very religious aunt disapproved of her aspirations. After she graduated from Bayside High School in Queens, Gia moved to Manhattan to pursue acting. To support herself, she found employment in a travel agency, where she met a person who had connections with a television producer. During this time, she took drama classes from Stella Adler, and that was when she met Steve McQueen; they dated from 1952 to 1954. She appeared on game shows, in particular Stop the Music, where she was spotted by Maurice Bergman, an executive of Universal International located in New York.

Career

In 1954, accompanied by her mother, Scala flew to Hollywood to screen test for the role of Mary Magdalene for the up-coming film The Gallileans. She did not get the part, but it did not matter because the film was scrapped. Nevertheless, Peter Johnson at Universal Studios was impressed with Scala's close-ups in the screen test. She was given a nonspeaking, uncredited part in the movie All That Heaven Allows that starred Rock Hudson. Afterward, Universal Studios signed her to a contract. The studio dyed her hair dark brown, had her four front teeth capped, and changed her name to Gia Scala.

Scala's star was rising when in 1957, her mother died. Emotionally distraught, she began to become unstable. In 1958, she was filming The Two Headed Spy in London. Her father and she were sharing an apartment; late one night they had words, Gia left in a huff, got into a taxi, and went to the Waterloo Bridge. It looked as if she were going to jump off the bridge; the taxi driver called the police, and she was taken to the police station. In the morning, her father came to take her home. Later that year, she became an American citizen. She landed roles in Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957), The Garment Jungle (1957), and The Tunnel of Love (1958), which featured Richard Widmark and Doris Day. Her performance as a labor organiser in The Garment Jungle was critically acclaimed.

Gia received recognition for her performance as Anna in the film The Guns of Navarone (1961), starring Gregory Peck and David Niven.

Scala made frequent appearances on American television shows during the 1960s. Gia co-starred with William Shatner in a 1960 Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode entitled "Mother, May I Go Out to Swim?", another called "Deathmate", and with Christopher Lee in a 1964 Alfred Hitchcock Hour segment entitled "The Sign of Satan". She also guest-starred in other series, Convoy, The Islanders, The Rogues, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Twelve O'Clock High episode "Rx For A Sick Bird" (1965), the NBC TV series Tarzan (1967), and It Takes a Thief (1969) in the episode "The Artist Is for Framing", which proved to be her final acting role.

Scala married actor turned investment banker Don Burnett on 21 August 1959. She started drinking heavily after Burnett left her and moved in with Rock Hudson. They divorced on 1 September 1970. Her career began to deteriorate as a result of depression that led to excessive drinking.

"Cha Cha for Gia"

While Henry Mancini worked with Universal Pictures, he met Gia on the Four Girls in Town stage. Inspired by her beauty, he wrote "Cha Cha for Gia". This was an uncredited tune for the 1957 movie.

Later years and death

Having British citizenship due to her birth, Gia went to London to film The Two Headed Spy. In late summer of 1958, she returned to the U.S., and her father moved to Taormina, Sicily, where he retired from the import/export business.

On the night of 30 April 1972, Gia was found dead in her Hollywood Hills home. Los Angeles County Coroner Thomas Noguchi reported her cause of death was from an "acute ethanol and barbiturate intoxication." She had a prescription for valium; three tablets were missing from the bottle, but valium is not a barbiturate; it is a benzodiazepine. Also, she was discovered nude sprawled across her bed; bruises were on her body and blood was on her pillow; the bedroom seemed to be staged with wine bottles and dirty wine glasses strewn about. Gia was a very organised and neat person. For those reasons, her sister Tina Scala never believed that Gia intended to take her life, nor that her death was accidental. She was 38 years old. Scala's death was later ruled accidental. She is interred next to her mother, Eileen O'Sullivan-Scoglio, in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Postal stamp: Republic of the Congo

In 2008, the Democratic Republic of the Congo put Gia Scala's image on a postage stamp.

Gia Scala: The First Gia

Gia Scala: The First Gia is the title of a book published first in December 2014, then republished in July 2015. The book discusses in detail her personal and professional life. Video on YouTube