Laurette Marcia Gemser (born 5 October 1950) is an Indonesian-Dutch retired actress, model and costume designer. She is primarily known for her work in Italian erotic cinema, most notably the ''

Emanuelle Emmanuelle is the lead character in a series of French erotic films based on the main character in the novel ''Emmanuelle'' (1959), created by Emmanuelle Arsan. Character history Emmanuelle appeared as the pen name of Marayat Rollet-Andr ...

'' series. Many of her films were collaborations with directors

Joe D'Amato Aristide Massaccesi (15 December 1936 – 23 January 1999), known professionally as Joe D'Amato, was an Italian film director, producer, cinematographer, and screenwriter who worked in many genres ( westerns, decamerotici, peplum, war films, ...

and

Bruno Mattei Bruno Mattei (30 July 1931 – 21 May 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor who directed exploitation films in many genres, including women in prison, nunsploitation, zombie, mondo, cannibal, and Nazisploitation films. M ...

. Gemser has also been credited as Moira Chen, most notably in '' Love Is Forever'' (1983).

Early life

Gemser left

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

in 1955, at the age of four, and moved with her parents to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

.Article on Laura Gemser in ''Leeuwarder Courant'', 5 February 1977 She grew up in the Dutch city of

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, where she attended the MULO Regentesseschool high school. After that, she attended the Artibus Art School in Utrecht, where she specialised in fashion design.

Career

After modelling in various magazines in the

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, in 1974 she moved to Italy to star in the erotic film '' Amore libero - Free Love''.Gordiano Lupi, ''Laura Gemser e le altre''. Edizioni Profondo Rosso, 2011. pp. 18–19. The film was a box office success and launched Gemser's career. She played one of the masseuses in the 1975 film '' Emmanuelle 2'' (aka ''Emmanuelle, The Joys of a Woman''), and later that year took the starring role in

Bitto Albertini Adalberto "Bitto" Albertini (1924–1999) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Career He began his film career as a camera operator and as a cinematographer. In 1974 Albertini directed ''Black Emanuelle'' starring the then almost u ...

's '' Black Emanuelle''. She starred in 5 ''Black Emanuelle'' films in less than three years. She starred as Laotian actress Keo Sirisomphone in

Michael Landon Michael Landon (born Eugene Maurice Orowitz; October 31, 1936 – July 1, 1991) was an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in '' Bonanza'' (1959–1973), Charles Ingalls in '' Little House on the P ...

's 1983 American television film, '' Love Is Forever'', in which she was credited as Moira Chen. During the 1970s and 1980s, she made many movies with

. Gemser continued to make films, at times working with her actor husband, Gabriele Tinti (m. 1976-1991). In the 1990s, she retired from films to work on costume designing for film, and completely vanished from the public life. In 1990, she had made the costumes for what is considered one of the worst movies ever made, '' Troll 2''.

Filmography

References

Footnotes

Sources

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External links

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Laura Gemser Biography

Honey-Dipped Caramel: Laura Gemser (The Grindhouse Effect)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gemser, Laura 1950 births Costume designers Dutch film actresses Indonesian film actresses 20th-century Indonesian actresses Dutch people of Indonesian descent Indo people Living people People from Surabaya Dutch emigrants to Italy