Beryl Cunningham (8 August 1946 – 11 December 2020) was a Jamaican actress and model, mainly active in Italian cinema.

Life and career

Born in

Montego Bay Montego Bay () is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth most populous urban area in the country, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, the daughter of a university professor, after the high school graduation Cunningham moved to London to attend the university and to pursue a modeling career. Cunningham's career, after some secondary roles, was launched in the late 60's by the erotic drama ''

Le salamandre ''Le salamandre'' () is a 1969 Italian film directed by Alberto Cavallone. It gained a great commercial success and launched the brief careers of the two main actresses, Erna Schürer and Beryl Cunningham. Cast *Erna Schürer as Ursula *Beryl C ...

'', directed by

Alberto Cavallone Alberto Cavallone (28 August 1938 – 12 November 1997) was an Italian people, Italian film director and screenwriter. He was born in Milan, Italy. Cavallone's films are anti-conventional and often contain a mixture of graphic violence, surreal ...

, that she accepted to shoot for free. Shortly after she obtained three more commercial successes, '' The Weekend Murders'', directed by

Michele Lupo Michele Lupo (4 December 1932 – 27 June 1989) was an Italian film director. He directed 23 films between 1962 and 1982. He was born in Corleone, Italy, and died on 27 June 1989 in a clinic in Rome, Italy at the age of 56. Selected filmogr ...

, and ''

Il dio serpente ''Il dio serpente'' () is a 1970 Italian erotic fantasy film directed by Piero Vivarelli and featuring Italian-based American actress Nadia Cassini in her first lead role. The film is an earlier example of voodoo (and later zombie) themed sexploi ...

'' and '' The Black Decameron'', both directed by

Piero Vivarelli Piero Vivarelli (26 February 1927 – 7 September 2010) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and lyricist. Vivarelli was born in Siena. After his father's death in 1942 at the hands of Yugoslav Partisans, Vivarelli joined the Republic ...

, her partner at the time. Later starred in several genre films and in

Ettore Scola Ettore Scola (; 10 May 1931 – 19 January 2016) was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He received a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1978 for his film ''A Special Day'' and over ...

's '' Brutti, sporchi e cattivi'', but failed to capitalize on her early success and retired from acting in the early 1980s. During her career Cunningham was also a presenter, hosting among others the 1971 edition of

Cantagiro Cantagiro was an Italian summer song contest held from 1962 to 1972 and 1990 to 1993. It featured three categories, A for famous artists, B for newcomers and C for groups. The creator of the competition was Ezio Radaelli. The name of the festival ...

, and a singer, recording among others a cover of the

Jula de Palma Iolanda Maria Palma (born 21 April 1931 in Milan), known as Jula De Palma, is an Italian singer. Biography De Palma began her career in the early 1950s as a radio singer, collaborating with pianist, composer, and showman Lelio Luttazzi. Initia ...

's hit "Tua". In 1979 she was a regular guest of the television program ''Playboy di mezzanotte''. In 1981, she also published a book of Jamaican aphrodisiac recipes, ''La cucina giamaicana'', published by Crochet Edizioni."Beryl: ricette dai caraibi", ''La Stampa'', 19 January 1981, p. 32.

References

External links

*
Beryl Cunningham
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

2020 deaths Jamaican film actresses Jamaican female models 1946 births People from Montego Bay 20th-century Jamaican women singers Jamaican expatriates in Italy 20th-century Jamaican actresses {{Jamaica-actor-stub