"French Dressing at 50" Movie Exhibition in Herne Bay, England

One of my top 3 Marisa Mell movies is the 1964 comedy caper movie "French Dressing" directed by Ken Russell, notorious almost a decade later for his 1971 shocker "The Devils",  with leading men James Booth and Roy Kinnear. The movie had its world première on April 10th 1964. The movie was for the most part shot in Herne Bay, England and shows us a surprisingly comedic side of female star Marisa Mell, that will never be repeated again in her later career and thus making this movie a really stand alone among all her other movies and television work. To commemorate the 50th year since the first showing of this movie, curator Nicholas Sinclair has put together a special exhibition celebrating the life and work of British filmmaker Ken Russell and his first movie "French Dressing". Special attention is given during this exhibition to the history of the making of this movie in Herne Bay and its locals who often participated in the movie as extras. What makes this exihition also very special for Marisa Mell fans is the fact that the curator also had a special eye for the contribution of Marisa Mell in this movie and its success, slowly building into a cult following in the years since. The visitors will see a lot of ultra rare and never before seen material regarding the production of this movie and the contribution of Marisa Mell, belonging to numerous owners, some even related to the production of it. Hence Marisa Mell features heavily througout the displays in stills, behind the scene photos, original and reproduction marketing artwork and even in a recent discovered colour cinefilm in the vault of a cine maker made during the production of French Dressing.

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Practical information:

From August 7th 2014 untill September 28th 2014

FRENCH DRESSING AT 50 AT HERNE BAY MUSEUM AND GALLERY

8 William Street

Herne Bay

CT6 5EJ

Telephone: 01227 367368

The museum is situated 9 miles outside of Canterburry via A28 en A299.

The museum is open from Thursday untill Sunday from 11am untill 4.30 pm.

There is not a catalogue available for the exhibition but there is a free filming location trail map available of Herne Bay, in the film known as Gormleigh-On-Sea, which can be taken away as a souvenir.

To wet you appetite for this exhibition here are some photos in color of the movie which is quite rare because the movie and almost all of the publicity stills and material are mostly in black and white.

As a bonus the opening track of the Georges Delerue soundtrack emphasizing the comedy caper theme of the movie:

Lucifera (Fumetti per Adulti)

In the past I have written on this blog about a known fact that Marisa Mell was used as a model for the Chilian erotic spy comic Satanka. So one day while researching the life and work of Marisa Mell for possible entries for this blog I saw this picture of Marisa Mell in a Catholic nuns habit while smoking a cigarette. The picture is a publicity photo from her 1964 only British movie "French Dressing". I archieved the picture for later reference and possible usage on the blog! Months passed. Untill last summer I was reading the dark Italian erotic fumetti "Lucifera" and saw these next two pictures in the comic book.

In this story the devilish Lucifera is trying to steal as a Catholic nun the Holy Grail as a token of her loyality to her master and lover in hell the Devil. And nothing ever goes as planned with Lucifera so troubles arise on the horizon and Lucifera has to master them in her own special way to achieve her goals, meaning a lot of seduction and sex! But that is another story!

While reading this story it hit me! Before my eyes appeared the Marisa Mell picture in her Catholic nuns habit. And the resemblance of both pictures and the drawn Lucifera was remarkable. The features of Lucifera like the shape of her eye brows, eye lashes and lips of her mouth were very Marisa Mell-like! So the question popped up in my head: Could it be that Marisa Mell had been the template for the dark Italian fumetti heroine "Lucifera"? Although it might seem far fetched in reality it was not in my opinion. Why? 

 During the height of the dark Italian fumetti in the 60's and 70's like Lucifera, Jacula, Maghella, Biancaneve, Sukia, Jolanda and their male counterparts the publishers were always trying to make their comic book heroes appealing by giving them often faces of well known people at that moment in time. The classic examples are French actor Alain Delon as the private detective "Playcolt" or again French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo as again private detective "Goldrake". 

So if the Italian comic book artists took well known populair actors as a role model for their heroes, why shouldn't they have taken the face of Marisa Mell as a template for the face of she-devil Lucifera?

Lucifera was published from 1971 to 1980 by Italian comic publishing house "Ediperiodici" running for 170 issues. A French edition of the comic ran from 1972 to 1980 for 99 issues and was pubished by Elvifrance. Some very famous Italian comic book artists worked on the comic like Edoardo Morricone, Tito Marchioro and the best known of them all, Leone Frollo, who created the heroine and gave her, her distinguised looks like her almond shaped eyes, thick eye lashes, the curved eye brows and above all the thick flowing hair split in the middle above her eyes by a triangular pony. In fact, you can regard the she-devil Lucifera as the male version of the other dark fumetti hero "Diabolik". He also has the same almond shaped eyes, thick eye lashes and the curved eye brows.

Marisa Mell came to Rome, Italy in the year 1965 and was a major star in the movies and the yellow press in 1971, the year that Lucifera was created, just after the much publisized romance with film producer and club owner Pier Luigi Torri and his notorius club "Number One", hangout for everybody rich and famous, stars and starlets in 60's Rome. So Leone Frollo was quite familiar with the face and body of Marisa Mell and probably found in her the perfect model for his next creation: Lucifera. And he was not wrong about that. Lucifera became an instand hit among erotic fumetti lovers untill this day and age. Complete collections of Lucifera comic books in prestine condition fetch top money at the moment around 5000 euros. And thanks to the modern means of communications like Ipad and tablets Lucifera or Marisa Mell will live on for generations to come, even in color.

Kenn Russell dies at age 84!

On November 27th 2011 one of Britain's most prolific directors "Kenn Russell" died at age 84! Kenn Russell was born as "Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell" on July 3rd 1927. He was best known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his controversial style. Kenn Russell was criticised as being over-obsessed with sexuality and the church as seen in his movie "The Devils" from 1971. His subject matter was often about famous composers, or based on other works of art which he adapted loosely. Russell began directing for the BBC, where he did creative adaptations of composers' lives which were unusual for the time. He also directed many feature films independently and for studios. The director is best known for his Oscar-winning film "Women in Love" (1969), "The Who's Tommy (1975), and the science fiction film "Altered States" (1980). To fans of Marisa Mell he will be fondly remembered as the director of the 1964 movie "French Dressing". Although a big flop at the British and international box office this movie is for me one of the most hilariously funny movies that I have ever seen in the vain of the "Comedy Capers" from the silent era! It also shows Marisa Mell from a very different angle as a very funny comedic actress rather than the sexy starlet that she portrays in the movie. Sadly after this movie Marisa Mell never again did such a comedic role again in her career!

Where is my voice?

As an Austrian born actress, Marisa Mell went during the mid 60's to Rome, Italy to persue further her acting career. Classically trained at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna, Austria she studied every subject needed at that time to build a prosperous stage and movie career like fencing, horse riding, language and dialogue,... but foreign languages where not on the curriculum of the school. Hence she had to teach herself the Italian language and after several months she was quite good at speaking it and after several years it became her language of preference talking like an Italian born women. But that was not enough for the Italian movie producers. They almost always dubbed Marisa Mell with the voice of an Italian (voice) actress because her own voice did not sounded Italian enough for them. The same happened to her Italian movies being dubbed into English for the English language market. Although Marisa Mell spoke English, as witnessed in the movie "French Dressing", you could always hear her Austrian accent. So out went the original voice of Marisa Mell and in came the dubbing voice.

Debra Winger and Carolyn de Fonseca in

"The Sheltering Sky" from 1990

One of the most famous voice actresses to dub Marisa Mell into English for the movie "La Belva col Mitra" was Carolyn de Fonseca. Carolyn de Fonseca was an American actress and voice dubbing artist based in Rome, Italy. She was known for her sensual, breathy voice and has worked extensively as a voice actress for the English language dubbing of several hundred foreign (mostly Italian) films from the early 1960's and onwards. She was also the wife of actor/voice dubber Ted Rusoff, whom she frequently worked with. Carolyn first came to Rome, Italy in the early 1960's and tried to make a career for herself as an actress. She played a small role in the acclaimed "A Difficult Life" (1961), directed by Dino Risi, and had a decently sized supporting role as Chloe, the love potion maker, in the peplum "Damon and Pythias" (1962). She also had bit part roles in some big productions that did shooting in Italy, such as "Barabbas" (1962) and "The Pink Panther" (1963) but Carolyn de Fonseca never really found much success as an actress. However, with many Italian films being prepared for international releases, native English speakers were in demand to work with dubbing, and Carolyn quickly became a prolific and successful voice dubbing artist. Some of Carolyn's earliest dubbing work was in the film "The Loves of Hercules" (1960). The film was post synchronized but its leading lady Jayne Mansfield did not dub her own voice, which led to Carolyn dubbing Mansfield's voice in the English version of the film. Subsequently, Carolyn would go on to dub Mansfield's voice in all of Mansfield's European films such as "Primitive Love" (1964) and "Dog Eat Dog" (1964). It was also Carolyn who provided Mansfield's narrator voice in the infamous quasi-documentary "The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield" (1968). Released after Mansfield's death, this mondo-style cult documentary consists of footage of Mansfield visiting various night clubs, beaches... while narrating her experiences. Since Mansfield died before the film's completion, Carolyn performs the task of voicing Mansfield's thoughts and narration. In the 1960's, Carolyn dubbed many leading ladies into English but eventually became more prolific in dubbing villainesses in various peplum and horror films. After a supporting role in the caper film "Midas Run" (1969) with Fred Astaire and Richard Crenna, she would give up her acting career and focus solely on dubbing films into English. She specialized in voicing bitchy, arrogant vixens such as the evil queen, played by Jany Clair, in "Hercules vs. the Moon Men" (1964), a bitchy tourist, played by Silvia Solar, in "Eyeball" (1975) and the deranged, violent inmate Albina in "Women's Prison Massacre" (1983). She would also typically dub exotic figures, or lust-craving upper-class nymphomaniacs such as a sex hungry asylum patient, played by Rosalba Neri, in "Slaughter Hotel" (1971), and a sassy, black nightclub performer, played by Carla Brait, in "The Case of the Bloody Iris" (1972). Carolyn would also sometimes deliver very over the top performances; dubbing the voices of sobbing and hysterical figures such as a paranoid asylum patient, played by Rossella Falk, in "Seven Blood-Stained Orchids" (1972), a sexually frustrated housewife, played by Carroll Baker, in "My Father's Wife" (1976), and a half-crazy drug addicted nun, played by Anita Ekberg, in "The Killer Nun" (1978). As the Italian film industry was slowing down somewhat in the 1980's, Carolyn resumed her career as a film actress in various American films that were shot in Rome, while still continuing to work with dubbing. On screen she played Christopher Reeve's secretary in "Monsignor" (1982), had a fairly sized supporting role in the Pia Zadora flick "The Lonely Lady" (1983), played a comedic role as an American tourist in "Detective School Dropouts" (1986) and finally appeared in Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Sheltering Sky" (1990) with Debra Winger. On television, she appeared in the highly acclaimed mini series "The Winds of War" (1983). She also appeared alongside her real-life husband Ted Rusoff in the mini series "Mussolini and I" (1985), in which they play the parents of Mussolini's mistress, Claretta Petacci, and played a supporting part in the TV movie thriller "The Fifth Missile" (1986). Carolyn de Fonseca died in November 2009.

Selection of her dubbing roles which read as a who's who of Eurocult actresses and cult movies:

1960-The Loves of Hercules-Queen Dianira-Jayne Mansfield
1961-Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules-Queen Halis Mosab-Moira Orfei
1963-Thor and the Amazon Women-Black Queen-Janine Hendy
1963-The Whip and the Body-Nevenka Menliff-Daliah Lavi
1964-Dog Eat Dog-Darlene-Jayne Mansfield
1964-Hercules vs. the Moon Men-Queen Samara-Jany Clair
1964-The Last Man on Earth-Ruth Collins-Franca Bettoia
1964-Primitive Love-Dr. Jane-Jayne Mansfield
1965-Terror-Creatures from the Grave-Cleo Hauff-Barbara Steele
1968-The Great Silence-Regina-Marisa Merlini
1969-Venus in Furs-Olga-Margaret Lee
1969-A Woman on Fire-Clarissa Renos-Françoise Prévost
1970-Queens of Evil-Bibiana-Ida Galli
1970-Shadow of Illusion-Gail Bland-Daniela Giordano
1971-Blackie the Pirate-Isabel-Silvia Monti
1971-Slaughter Hotel-Anne Palmieri-Rosalba Neri
1971-The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh-Carol-Cristina Airoldi
1972-The Case of the Bloody Iris-Mizar Harrington-Carla Brait
1972-Don't Torture a Duckling-Maciara-Florinda Bolkan
1972-Manhunt Trini-Francesca-Romana Coluzzi
1972-The Red Queen Kills Seven Times-Lulu Palm-Sybil Danning
1972-Seven Blood-Stained Orchids-Elena Marchi-Rossella Falk
1972-Shadows Unseen-Simona-Marilù Tolo
1972-Smile Before Death-Gianna-Rosalba Neri
1973-The Arena-Cornelia-Rosalba Neri
1973-Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eyes-Suzanne-Doris Kunstmann
1973-War Goddess-Oreitheia-Sabine Sun
1974-The Eerie Midnight Horror Show-Luisa-Lucretia Love
1974-The Last Desperate Hours Laura-Monachesi-Silvia Monti
1974-Spasmo-Clorinda-Monica Monet
1974-White Fang to the Rescue-Katie-Gisela Hahn
1975-Blonde in Black Leather-Miele-Monica Vitti
1975-Deep Red-Gianna Brezzi-Daria Nicolodi
1975-Emanuelle's Revenge-Emanuelle-Rosemarie Lindt
1975-Eyeball-Gail Alvarado-Silvia Solar
1975-Syndicate Sadists-Flora-Femi Benussi
1976-Black Emanuelle 2-Susan-Dagmar Lassander
1976-Emanuelle in America-Diana Smith-Maria Piera Regoli
1976-Gestapo's Last Orgy-Alma-Maristella Greco
1976-My Father's Wife-Laura-Carroll Baker
1976-SS Camp 5-Women's Hell-Kapo Greta-Patrizia Melega
1976-SS Experiment Love Camp-Dr. Renke-Patrizia Melega
1977-Beast With a Gun-Giuliana Caroli-Marisa Mell
1977-The Cynic, the Rat, the Fist-Maria Balzano-Gabriella Giorgelli
1977-The Desert Tigers-Dr. Lessing-Lea Lander
1977-Suspiria-Olga-Barbara Magnolfi
1978-The Bloodstained Shadow-Signora Nardi-Juliette Mayniel
1978-The Killer Nun-Sister Gertrude-Anita Ekberg
1978-The War of the Robot-Lois-Malisa Longo
1979-Beyond the Darkness-Iris-Franca Stoppi
1979-Escape From Hell-Katie-Cintia Lodetti
1979-Hotel Paradise-Muriel-Ajita Wilson
1980-Anthropophagus-Julie-Tisa Farrow
1980-Erotic Nights of the Living Dead-Fiona-Dirce Funari
1980-Inferno-Carol-Alida Valli
1980-Macabre-Jane Baker-Bernice Stegers
1981-Absurd-Mrs. Bennett-Hanja Kochansky
1981-Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror-Evelyn-Mariangela Giordano
1981-The House by the Cemetery-Laura Gittleson-Dagmar Lassander
1981-Murder Obsession-Glenda-Anita Strindberg
1981-Piranha II: The Spawning-Jai-Carole Davis
1982-Ator, the Fighting Eagle-Indun-Laura Gemser
1982-The New York Ripper-Scellenda's landlady-Rita Silva
1982-Pieces-Grace-Hilda Fuchs
1982-Sweet Body of Bianca-Jill-Grazia De Giorgi
1982-The Sword of the Barbaria-Aki-Yvonne Fraschetti
1982-Violence in a Women's Prison-Hertha-Françoise Perrot
1983-The Final Executioner-Edra-Marina Costa
1983-Hell Penitentiary-Warden Landers-Rita Silva
1984-Monster Dog-Sandra-Victoria Vera
1985-Jungle Raiders-Maria Janez-Marina Costa
1985-Miami Golem-Joanna Fitzgerald-Laura Trotter
1985-Phenomena-Frau Brückner-Daria Nicolodi
1986-Bridge to Hell-Vanja-Francesca Ferrè
1986-The Kiss of the Cobra-Maria-Milly D'Abbraccio
1989-Alien From the Deep-Jane-Marina Giulia Cavalli
1989-The House of Witchcraft-Sharon Mason-Marina Giulia Cavalli
1991-Millions-Margherita-Florinda Bolkan
1991-Voices From Beyond-Hilda Mainardi-Frances Nacman
1995-The Strange Story of Olga O.-Sheila Altman-Florinda Bolkan

Annette Who???

After having filmed several movies in German speaking countries of Europe like Germany and Austria, Marisa Mell was ready to spread her wings in the movie business. She longed to film abroad. In 1964 her wish was granted when she got a phone call from England with the request to appear in the first feature film of then TV-director Ken Russell called "French Dressing". Marisa Mell got the leading female part of Françoise Fayol. The movie is a slight comedy about a stodgy British resort. Gormleigh-by-the-Sea is a holiday community besotted with dullness. To liven up, Jim, a young deck-chair attendant, convinces the local entertainment director and mayor into starting a film festival. The town convinces an ambitious French actress Françoise Fayol to be the star of the festival. What happens after that is a series of near disasters, including the failure of a Nudist Beach and a riot at a film premiere. It is left to Jim's American journalist girlfriend to save the situation and the reputation of the town.

It is not known if Marisa Mell was aware of the fact that, unfortunately, she was not the first choice by director Ken Russell to cast her as the French actress visiting the sea side resort. Nope, his first choice was actress Annette Vadim, ex-wife of French director Roger Vadim. Roger Vadim was known during the 60's as the man who made French actress and then wife Brigitte Bardot, a mega-star in Europe, when he filmed her in his cult movie "Et Dieu...créa la femme" (1956). After his relationship with Brigitte Bardot, Roger Vadim hoped to strike gold again by starting a relationship with a little known actress called "Annette Susanne Strøyberg" from Denmark.

The beautiful Strøyberg was born on the island of Fyn, in Denmark, on December 12th, 1934. Her father was a physician who died when she was quite young. She and her sister then moved to Copenhagen where she was raised. She found her way to Paris (France) in her late teens where she worked at couture houses as a model, later finding employment with such fashion notables as Chanel.Annette hooked up with Vadim during the filming of his legendary first feature "Et Dieu...créa la femme". Possessing Bardot's similar erotic balance of melancholy and fragility within her Lolita-like stunning looks, Vadim was immediately attracted to her, when Brigitte Bardot started up a heated affair with young co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant. Vadim moved in with Annette, who subsequently gave birth to their daughter Nadine in 1957. The couple married in June '58. Vadim then proceeded to build and groom a replica of Brigitte Bardot with Stroyberg. Her biggest chance for fame was when he put her on display in the film of the classic novel "Les liaisons dangereuses" (1959) as Marianne de Tourvel, the virtuous victim of the evil Jeanne Moreau and Gérard Philipe. Making her debut, Annette was stunning, of course but found herself quite outclassed by her cast, hardly ready for such a demanding role. And then came the role which gave her a cult status among Eurocult fans and vampire movie lovers.

She earned far more recognition when Roger Vadim cast her in his next movie as a society girl-cum-lesbian vampire Carmilla von Karnstein, falling in love with Elsa Martinelli, in "Et mourir de plaisir" (1960). The same Elsa Martinelli who seduces Marisa Mell in the Lucio Fulci movie "Una Sull'Altra".

By the time of the film's release, however, her marriage to Vadim was history. He had moved on to try and conquer up-and-coming actress Catherine Deneuve. Annette subsequently packed her bags for Italy where she made a few unmemorable pictures, reverting to her maiden name of Strøyberg on marquee boards. In between she managed to amass a number of love affairs with such available playboy actors like Vittorio Grassman, Roberto Rossellini, Alain Delon, Omar Sharif and Warren Beatty. Her last film was "Lo scippo" (1965). Giving up on her career, she turned socialite and married a French Moroccan, dividing her time between Paris (France) and Africa. When that marriage failed, she married a Greek shipping magnate, Gregory Callimanopulos, and settled for a time in America. She returned to Europe after their divorce. Strøyberg died at age 71 of cancer in 2005, and was survived by her three children, one from each of her marriages.

As often written on this blog, Marisa Mell refused to color her dark brown hair into another color so the only solution was to wear a wig like she did in this movie "French Dressing". When you compare the style of the hair of both women you can clearly see that Marisa Mell's wig is copying the hair style of Annette Vadim for her role as Carmilla von Karnstein. So one can assume that Ken Russell was a huge fan of the actress Annette Vadim and her role in that movie from 1960 and had her in mind to play the part in his first movie for the French actress Françoise Fayol. When Annette Vadim fell ill during the pre-production of this movie, he must have been very disappointed and started to look for another European actress to play the role! So it is quite remarkable that he asked Marisa Mell to accept the part because she had only played in a few German speaking movies.

It is not known how Ken Russell got to know the work of Marisa Mell and I wonder if Marisa Mell was aware that she was a copy (and I must say a very bad one with the horrible blond wig) in this movie of another actress. And being a copy of Annette Vadim could explain why she had to wear that wig instead of her beautiful thick brown hair for the role. French Dressing was a big box office disaster and gave the director for several years a trauma. It also ended the British career of Marisa Mell. The next year she relocated to Italy and starred in the cult movie "Casanova 70".

And now... a commercial break with LUX

In 1964 Marisa Mell was still only known in German speaking countries like Germany and her native Austria but her star was on the rise, especially with a contract to do a British movie called "French Dressing" to be directed by Ken Russell. So it wasn't strange that she caught the attention of the advertising world. One of her first ad's was for the soap brand Lux. This ad is rather special for several reasons: 1) contrary to almost all other Lux ad's with actresses this one with Marisa Mell has a side view of her and not a front view. Most of the actresses do not like their faces to be shot in a photo shoot from their sides because they don't like their noses or the silhouettes of their faces. So photo's of these women are almost always taken from the front. Marisa Mell was at that time regarded as such a classic beauty with an almost Greek statue like face that the campaign was build around her side view; 2) the brand Lux was at that time such a well known name that the connection of an actress and the word "Lux" was enough to make the link with the soap and 3) the ad has the autograph of Marisa Mell at the bottom of the page. This ad proves that the way she writes her stage name in an autograph was there from the beginning of her career and has been unchanged untill the end of her life which is rather exceptional because writing and autographs tend to change during the life of a person due to the changing of his or her personality when becoming older and more mature.

In 60's Europe, it wasn't very common to do ad's with movie stars in it contrary to the US which had a longer tradition. One of the reasons was that European movie stars thought it to be cheap to do commercials and advertisments next to their movie careers just like it was not done as a movie star to do television at that time. Times haves changed and now they all do it for the money almost as a main occupation with a movie career as a side track. One of the few exceptions in Europe at that time was the soap brand "Lux". Almost from the beginning of their existence starting in the 1930's, Lux concentrated on placing actresses on their ads like Lana Turner or Jane Wyman. More than 400 actresses untill now have lent their faces for a Lux ad. Even Paul Newman did one.

"Lux" soap was first launched in the UK in 1899 as a flaked version of Sunlight soap and in the US in 1916, where it was marketed as a laundry soap targeted specifically at 'delicates'. The producer of this soap were Lever Brothers who encouraged women to home launder their clothes without fear of satins and silks being turned yellow by harsh lyes that were often used in soaps at the time. The flake-type soap allowed the manufacturer some leeway from lye because it did not need to be shaped into traditional cake-shaped loaves as other soaps were. The result was a gentler soap that dissolved more readily and was advertised as suitable for home laundry use. The name "Lux" was chosen as the latin word for "light" and because it was suggestive of "luxury."
Lux is now owned by giant Unilever and is still a strong seller in the soap market especially in Asian markets like India, Nepal and Pakistan. In those countries with millions of poor people who are dreaming of a better life, the soap Lux has still an aura of wealth and richness when you are able to buy and use it in your day to day use.

Therefore the brand is heavely advertised by actresses from Bollywood, the Indian movie industry. Although at the moment, Lux's ambassador in India is actress Pryanka Chopra, the biggest seller of all time is another Bollywood star and regarded as "the most beautiful women in the world": Aishwarya "Ash" Rai.

Once a former Miss India and Miss World, the 35 year actress has already more than 40 movies on her resumé during her 13 year career. At one time, during the Pierce Brosnan-era of James Bond Aishwarya Rai was rumored to be in the running to become a number 1 Bond girl in one of his last movies. Although she admits that it was only a rumor, her greatest wish is to become a world movie star next to her Bollywood career. So becoming a Bond girl would have placed her in the spotlight. Maybe she gets another chance with the new James Bond Daniel Craig when he needs another Lux glamor girl at his side to be rescued.

From a time when smoking was still fashionable!

Marisa Mell was a child of the sixties. Born in 1939, she started her movie carreer at the end of the 1950's early 1960's, so it was fashionable at that time for women to start smoking like men did for centuries! Marisa Mell was no exception! She loved smoking and did smoke a lot. You could even ask when did she not smoke! Even in the last years of her life, before the diagnoses of throat cancer, cigarettes were often her only companion in harsh times! Her favorite brand was the German brand "HB", short for "Haus Bergmann"! HB cigarettes belonged to the ten top-selling brands in Germany at that time with a market share of 3,5%. From 1959 untill 1984, HB was the market leader among the German brands, 1975 even the market leader in entire Europe. Today, HB cigarettes are not advertised anymore due to government regulations in most of the European countries but despite this fact, HB smokers still stick to "their" brand which causes HB still being a long seller. Marisa Mell did not only smoke in private but also smoked in several of her movies like Venusberg in 1963, French Dressing in 1964, Train d'enfer in 1965, New York chiama Super Dragon in 1966, Objectif 500 millions in 1966 and Les Belles au bois dormantes in 1969.

No chemicals on my hair!

In 1963 Marisa Mell had already 10 roles on her C.V. in Germany and her native Austria. It was now time to start an international carreer. She landed the part of Françoise Fayol in Ken Russel's 1964 movie "French Dressing", a British production about a deck-chair attendant at a British fictional resort promoting a film festival featuring a French blond sexpot. Not an important part but it was an international production in the UK. So the German teenage magazine "Bravo" put her on the cover of their August 06, 1963 issue (nr. 32). In a little article in the back of the magazine Bravo told their readers that Marisa Mell was now shooting a movie in England and was refusing to dye her hair blond as the producers asked. Marisa's argument was that she didn't want to damage her beautiful thick brown hair with chemicals. A blond wig was the only solution. As seen on the cover of the June, 1964 issue of "ABC Film Review" it was a horrible looking thing that ruined her personality as an actress and her credibility as character in the movie. The film was a disaster! Wearing a blond wig during her carreer would not be restricted to French Dressing alone. A few years later in 1967 under the direction of Mario Bava, Marisa Mell would replace the real blond French actress Catherine Deneuve as Eva Kant in the movie Danger: Diabolik!. In the Italian fumetti Diabolik, the partner of the master criminal, Lady Eva Kant was a beautiful blond women of aristocracy! So the actress had also to be blond in the movie but again Marisa did not give in to become blond. "No chemicals on my hair!" For the second time a wig had to turn a dark haired Marisa into a blond haired Eva Kant. This time the wig was of much better quality and had a much more natural look and feeling. At the end of the shooting Marisa got so fond of the wig that she took it home as a souvenir. Strangely enough it would not be the end of the now famous wig. Two years later the wig appeared again in the 1967 Italian film "Una sull'altra" by director Lucio Fulci. In this giallo Marisa played a double role and her character had to have blond hair to make a distinction for her other character. At the end of the movie, the wig had even a crucial role in the plot with a twist ending.

Danger: Diabolik - Trailer (Mario BAVA)



Una sull'altra - Marisa Mell Striptease (Lucio FULCI)