Siblings Gia Scala Role Actress | Name Tina Scala Years active 1955—present Movies Midnight Cowboy, Capone | |
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Full Name Agata Carmen Maria Scoglio Parents Pietro Scoglio, Eileen Sullivan Similar People Gia Scala, Steve Carver, John Schlesinger, John Frankenheimer | ||
Occupation Model, Singer, Actress | ||
Tina Scala (born July 16, 1935) is an actress, model, singer, poet, and author of Italian and Irish descent.
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Early life
Tina's early life was one of privilege. As Agatina Carmen Maria Scoglio, she was born in Mili San Marco, Sicily, but became to be known as Tina. At 17, she settled in Toronto, Canada. In 1962, Tina began modeling fur coats in Toronto. When she heard that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was holding auditions, she applied, was accepted and began working in daytime television.
Career
Tina studied acting at the Actors Studio, dancing at Luigi School of Dance with Eugene Louis Faccuito and voice with Gian Carlo Menotti. She made appearances on some radio shows and television shows. In 1961, she made her film debut in The Children’s Hour.
On December 27, 1966, while dressed in a mini-skirt, a photographer from the New York Daily News by chance snapped her picture as she was stepping over a snow bank when making her way through the snows in Central Park. That photo was published in The Saratogian and seen by many U.S. soldiers stationed in Viet Nam. The newspaper received requests as to the identity of the miniskirted young lady. When Tina discovered that the boys overseas liked her photograph, she posed in a two piece bikini and became a pin-up. While Tina was working as a model and actress in New York City, her sister and her mother were living in Los Angeles, California. When her mother—a life-time smoker—became ill from lung cancer, Tina moved to Los Angeles to be near her family. She often accompanied her sister onto the movie sets where she had the opportunity to meet many famous movie stars. In an interview, she was asked: "Who was the first star you met?" She answered "Audie Murphy ... his dressing room was next to Gia's & we could hear him talking to some girls & the girls were laughing loudly. When I met him he was very polite & personable." Tina continued to work in film—a role most remembered is a woman in the Laundromat in Midnight Cowboy 1969. In 1972, when her sister Gia Scala was found dead in her Hollywood Hills home at 7944 Woodrow Wilson Drive, her death was ruled accidental, Gia Scala was interred next to her mother in the Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City. In 1976, Frank Cavestani interviewed Tina for his documentary—Making It In Hollywood-- she was dressed as Cinderella from the wedding scene and he asked her "Which is easier working in film or theater?" She replied, "Film. Because in theater there are no second takes. You have to get it right the first time."
Tina continues working in film and theater.