Silvana Pampanini

Beauty pageant

Pampanini was wrongly reported as Miss Rome of 1947. A caption in a 1952 newspaper said, "She is considered Italy's all-time beauty."

Film

Silvana quickly became one of the most popular pin-up girls and movie stars in her country. She was considered a sex symbol throughout the 1950s. At the start of their career both Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren briefly appeared as extras in some films Pampanini starred in. The curvaceous brunette was usually dubbed when acting but used her voice when singing. Notably, she could speak French and Spanish, sing, dance, play the piano and she also recorded several songs.

In a 1952 worldwide publicized press statement she complained that middle-aged Hollywood actors like Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart were too old to play romantic lovers. Then in 1955 she visited New York City, Denver and California, appeared on television but rejected film offers because of her poor command of the English language and her dislike of the American working schedule.

Silvana was well-liked in France, where they nicknamed her Ninì Pampan, Spain, where she appeared in Tirma, Central and South America, especially in Mexico, where she starred in Sed de Amor with Pedro Armendáriz. Pampanini was often involved in arguments and controversies with film producers which eventually jeopardized her career. Nevertheless she successfully worked with distinguished actors and directors such as Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, Alberto Sordi, Totò, Jean Gabin, Henri Vidal, Abel Gance, Vittorio De Sica, Buster Keaton. The film O.K. Nero, in which Pampanini played the role of scantily dressed Empress Poppaea, was banned in certain places because of scenes that were considered indecent.

Threats

In 1954, Pampanini was sent a letter threatening that her home would be blown up if she did not leave a payment of 8 million lira in her car.

Soon afterward, she went to Spain for three months to make a movie while police and agents of Lloyd's of London investigated the threat. A newspaper article reported that Pampanini's "bosom [was] insured with Lloyd's for $48,000."

Personal life

Although she was rumoured to have had several love affairs, mainly in Italy and Latin America, she never married or had children. She wrote an autobiography, Outrageously Respectable, published in 1996. She died on 6 January 2016, aged 90.

Film director