Sonia Viviani is a retired
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
actress
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...
and
glamour model
A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Though m ...
who is foremost known for her appearances in the Italian
exploitation cinema and two films of acclaim in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
in the 1970s.
Film career
Viviani met with cinema at an early age due to her father's work at
Cinecittà
Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios w ...
and started her career in
Pasquale Squitieri
Pasquale Squitieri (27 November 1938 – 18 February 2017) was an Italian film director and screenwriter.
Life and career
Born in Naples, Squitieri graduated in law, then was briefly involved in stage, as author ("''La battaglia''") and even a ...
's ''
I guappi
''I guappi'' (internationally released as ''Blood Brothers'') is a 1974 Italian historical drama film with "poliziotteschi" and " noir" elements. This film marks the meeting between Claudia Cardinale and the director Pasquale Squitieri, who soon be ...
'' (1974). She met Tony Askin who became her agent and a plethora of roles followed. Her first role worthy of mention was in ''Un urlo dalle tenebre'' aka ''The Return of Exorcist'' by
Franco lo Cascio
Luca Damiano (born Franco Lo Cascio; 29 August 1946) is an Italian film director.
Born in Rome, Lo Cascio started his career as the assistant director of Fernando Di Leo in almost all the films he directed between 1967 and 1974. In 1974, he ma ...
in 1975. However, her first lead roles came with two
Osman F. Seden films: ''Teşekkür Ederim Büyükanne'' (1975), an adaptation of
Marino Girolami
Marino Girolami (1 February 1914 – 20 February 1994) was an Italian film director and actor.
Biography
Marino Giorlami was born on 1 February 1914 in Rome, Italy. Formally a Professional boxer, Girolami ended his boxing career when he was 20 ...
film ''
Grazie... nonna'' and ''Delicesine'' (1976), an adaptation of
Irving Wallace
Irving Wallace (March 19, 1916 – June 29, 1990) was an American best-selling author and screenwriter. He was known for his heavily researched novels, many with a sexual theme.
Early life
Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Bessie Liss ...
novel ''
The Fan Club
''The Fan Club'' is a novel by Irving Wallace published in 1974 about a group of young men who stalk and plan to kidnap and coerce a popular actress into having sex with them.
Plot summary
Adam Malone is a supermarket manager in Los Angeles ...
'' that featured Viviani with
Kadir İnanır
Kadir İnanır (born 15 April 1949) is a Turkish film actor and director.
Biography
İnanır was born on 15 April 1949 in Fatsa, a town in Ordu province of Turkey. He acted in 43 films since 1967 and appeared on television in ''Bütün Çocukl ...
and
Fikret Hakan
Fikret Hakan (born Bumin Gaffar Çitanak; 23 April 1934 – 11 July 2017) was a prolific Turkish film actor and a recipient of the honorary State Artist, a title awarded by the Turkish government.
Hakan was born as Bumin Gaffar Çitanak in 1934 to ...
, two prominent Turkish actors.
Her later films from mid-1970s to 1980s covered many exploitation genres ranging from
commedia sexy all'italiana
The commedia sexy all'italiana (, lit. " sex comedy Italian style"), also known as commedia scollacciata or commedia erotica all'italiana, is a subgenre of Italian ''commedia all'italiana'' film genre.
Style
''Commedia sexy'' is characterized ty ...
(''
L'adolescente
''L'adolescente'' (''The Adolescent'') is a 1976 commedia sexy all'italiana film directed by Alfonso Brescia. It starred Sonia Viviani, Daniela Giordano, Dagmar Lassander and Malisa Longo.
Plot
Vito Gnaula and Grazia Serritella are a Sicilian c ...
'' (1976) by
Alfonso Brescia
Alfonso Brescia (6 January 1930 – 6 June 2001) was an Italian film director. Brescia began working in film against his father's wishes, and eventually directed his first film '' Revolt of the Praetorians'' in 1964. Brescia worked in several gen ...
),
nazisploitation (''KZ9 - Lager di Sterminio'' (1977) by
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. ...
), and
zombie film
A zombie film is a film genre. Zombies are fictional creatures usually portrayed as reanimated corpses or virally infected human beings. They are commonly portrayed as cannibalistic in nature. While zombie films generally fall into the horror ...
(''
Nightmare City'' (1980) by
Umberto Lenzi
Umberto Lenzi (6 August 1931 – 19 October 2017) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and novelist.
A fan of film since young age, Lenzi studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and made his first film in 1958 which went unr ...
) to
giallo
In Italian cinema, ''Giallo'' (; plural ''gialli'', from ''giallo'', Italian for yellow) is a genre of mystery fiction and thrillers that often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, a ...
(''Assassinio al cimitero etrusco'' (1983) by
Sergio Martino
Sergio Martino (born 19 July 1938) is an Italian film director and producer, notable for his contributions to the giallo genre.
Martino is the brother of the late producer Luciano Martino (who died in 2013). They collaborated frequently in their ...
) and
peplum (''
The Adventures of Hercules
''The Adventures of Hercules'' ( it, Le avventure dell'incredibile Ercole) is the 1985 sequel to the 1983 film ''Hercules (1983 film), Hercules''. It was written and directed by Luigi Cozzi and has Professional bodybuilding, bodybuilder-turned-ac ...
'' (1985) by
Luigi Cozzi
is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...
). She ended her career in 1994 with ''
Le nuove comiche
''Le nuove comiche'' is a 1994 Italian comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, ...
'' by
Neri Parenti.
Glamour model
In the 1980s, Viviani appeared on covers and in pictorials of various men's magazines including the
French edition of
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
K ...
and the Italian edition of
Penthouse, particularly due to her ostensible similarity to
Princess Caroline of Monaco
Princess Caroline of Monaco (Caroline Louise Marguerite; born 23 January 1957) is, by her marriage to Prince Ernst August of Hanover (born 1954), Prince Ernst August, the List of Hanoverian royal consorts, Princess of Hanover. As the eldest chi ...
.
Sonia Viviani - Publicity
/ref>
References
External links
*
Sonia Viviani
bio at MyMovies.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Viviani, Sonia
1958 births
Living people
Italian film actresses
Actresses from Rome